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Poland rejects EU money for jobs and energy independence at Environment Council
March 9, 2012
 | by Kuba Gogolewski

Poland's veto against increasing Europe's 2020 target for greenhouse gas emissions cuts to 25% is frustrating not only environmentalists in Poland and elsewhere.

climate, coal, EU budget, European Council, Poland, roadmap, targets
EU Funds
Energy & climate
Ukraine's risky nuclear future shouldn't receive European support
March 9, 2012
 | by Iryna Holovko

Ukraine plans to extend the lifetimes of its fifteen nuclear reactors, most of which will soon pass their expiration date. A new report shows how these plans that are pursued in utter silence have seen only an inadequate assessment.

EBRD, EU, Euratom, expansion, Fukushima, lifetime, nuclear, safety, stress tests, Ukraine
EBRD
Energy & climate
Polish energy companies' black propaganda threatens EU climate ambitions again
March 8, 2012
 | by Kuba Gogolewski

Poland is on course to place further large roadblocks in the way of the European Commission's Roadmap 2050 towards a low-carbon economy unless certain demands being insisted on by Warsaw are met. These include the granting of free allowances for all 16 power plants that Poland has asked to be supported under the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme.

climate, coal, EU budget, European Commission, European Council, fossil fuels, Poland, roadmap, subsidies
EU Funds
Energy & climate
The European Commission, an EBRD shareholder that should start acting like one
March 1, 2012
 | by Pippa Gallop

Recent Balkan hydro projects suggest the European Commission could make much better use of its shareholder role in the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

biodiversity, decision making, environmental protection, European Commission, hydropower, Natura 2000
EBRD
Other harmful projects
Energy Security for whom? For what?
February 28, 2012
 | by Nicholas Hildyard, Larry Lohmann, Sarah Sexton

A new report by The Corner House critically examines the notion of “energy security,” one of the buzzwords in European politics used to justify controversial infrastructure projects like the Nabucco gas pipeline or high voltage transmission lines in Ukraine. Here an introduction to the report from its authors.

energy grab, energy security, extractive industries, human rights, local impacts
EBRD, EIB
Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts
Out of left field: A Kyrgyz inspiration for the EBRD
February 23, 2012
 | by Vladlena Martsynkevych

Following the publication of one official and one shadow report on the Kumtor gold mine, Kyrgyz authorities have responded to the calls of Bankwatch and other environmental groups to take a tougher stance on the Kumtor mining operations. The EBRD should follow their example.

communities, extractive industries, gold, local impacts, mining, policy, pollution, success, water
EBRD
Social & economic impacts, Other harmful projects, Mining
Oil for nothing: European energy security endangers livelihoods in Nigeria
February 8, 2012
 | by Genady Kondarev

A documentary exposes the practices and disastrous local impacts of oil extraction by European energy companies in Nigeria. Food for thought for ourselves and our political representatives at national and European level.

development, energy security, EU, flaring, fossil fuels, gas, local impacts, oil
Energy & climate, Social & economic impacts
Earth's riches, people's troubles. Mining in Central Asia
January 31, 2012
 | by Sven Haertig-Tokarz

Two new reports and two videos on the impacts of mining operations in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia unearth some of the downsides of the mining business in Central Asia.

accountability, corporate responsibility, local impacts, mining, pollution, water
EBRD
Social & economic impacts, Other harmful projects, Mining
Video: Spirited away - Mongolia's mining boom and the people that development left behind
January 27, 2012
 | by David Hoffman

Earlier this week we published an overview of two Central Asian mining projects financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development - the Kumtor gold mine in Kyrgyzstan and the Ukhaa Khudag coal mine in Mongolia's south Gobi desert, which is part of the much larger - in fact the world's largest - coal deposit at Tavan Tolgoi.

communities, mining, resettlement, video
EBRD
Mining
Rushing into gold can leave people behind, EBRD
January 25, 2012
 | by Vladlena Martsynkevych

A look at mining projects in Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia reveal a need to carefully revise the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s involvement in the exploitation of natural resources.

boom, communities, copper, gold, Kyrgyzstan, local benefits, mining, Mongolia, natural resources, resource curse
EBRD
Social & economic impacts

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