As pointed out in our publication Are We Nearly There Yet? Dilemmas of Transition After 20 Years of the EBRD's Operations (pdf), environmental and social sustainability has not been as strong a focus for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development as it should be. How the EBRD measures it's success can be seen as one part of the explanation. It's transition indicators - also at project level - are therefore an important aspect when assessing the bank's performance.

A coalition of more than 30 Macedonian and international NGOs are calling on the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) not to finance the Boskov Most hydro power plant in north-western Macedonia. The project would seriously damage Mavrovo national park, the largest in the country and a potential Natura 2000 site.

The Ombla hydropower plant is planned to be built in a cave in Croatia that is part of a proposed Natura 2000 site, but the environmental, economic and social impacts have only insufficiently been assessed by the project promoters.

More than 30 Croatian and international civil society organisations therefore urged the EBRD to not approve a loan for the project.

The European Commission's Cohesion Policy regulations fail to earmark sufficient money for green spending in areas such as energy efficiency of buildings, sustainable transport, nature protection or waste management.

Next year, the European Council and European Parliament can amend the regulation texts for the better. Our detailed recommendations for EU regional funds 2014-2020 can help them in their task by outlining which types of spending need to be excluded and which encouraged in order to tackle climate change, stop biodiversity loss and reverse resource-overconsumption while modernising our economies.