Bankwatch Mail

Published on the heels of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's annual meeting in Tbilisi, the red thread of Issue 62 of Bankwatch Mail is a slew of energy projects with grim implications for people and planet - from the crackdown on dissent in Azerbaijan to the destruction of a national park in Macedonia to a (partial) success for nuclear safety in Ukraine.

In Bankwatch Mail 60 we take a look at how the new Member States spending plans for EU funds are shaping up. Besides some signs of hope, we find still a notable lack of long-term sustainable strategies of central and eastern European countries.

And while former British prime minister Tony Blair's new advisory role for a consortium led by oil and gas giant BP is drawing criticism, the European Investment Bank has a real chance to champion EU climate policy - if it follows a few sensible suggestions.

Issue 58 of Bankwatch Mail, published as stakeholders meet in the European Parliament to discuss the future of the 'Energy Community'. Comprising the countries of the western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine, the Energy Community aims primarily to extend EU internal energy policy to south east Europe and the Black Sea region. Its modus operandi and achievements are now being evaluated at high level, which - as this issue shows - is undoubtedly necessary given the stunning number of highly questionable coal and lignite fired power plants that are proceeding in various Energy Community members.

Published to coincide with the EBRD’s annual meeting 2013 being held in Istanbul, this issue examines a developing controversial project in the bank’s newest region: a refinery expansion project in Cairo. Other fossil fuel investments by the EBRD also feature in the newsletter - and as the bank goes into major ‘policy review’ mode, with revisions to its energy, environmental and social and public information policies in the pipeline for this year, we put forward the case for the EBRD to rise to the climate challenge with real action rather than words. As the bank’s newly signed Kosovo country strategy demonstrates, however, the bank isn't on course yet.

In the ‘aftergloom’ of two major inter-governmental get-togethers - the latest UN climate talks in Doha and the EU budget summit in Brussels - Bankwatch Mail 54 discusses the revision of the energy lending policies at both the EIB and the EBRD - an opportune moment for both banks to show real climate ambition and turn their backs on fossil fuels. In an interview the new EBRD president Sir Suma Chakrabarti shows that much is moving as the bank juggles such hot potatoes as potential support for Monsanto's expansion into our region while trying to lay down new roots in post-Arab Spring north Africa.

Issue 52 of our quarterly newsletter is a special double edition as this week sees the annual meetings of two of our target institutions, the EIB and the EBRD. Both banks are attracting widspread coverage: the EIB for its potential role in a belated EU-wide drive for growth; the EBRD as it prepares to extend its operations beyond central and eastern Europe into the North Africa region and as it decides on a new president.

Bankwatch Mail 50 contains a range of European development finance issues with a particular focus on EU Funds as we publish on the day of our Green investments to the rescue conference in Brussels.