Comments and proposals on the EBRD's project level transition indicators

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.

Rreacting to the EBRD's invitation to comment on its project level transition indicators, our comments focus on the need for the EBRD to ”promote in the full range of its activities environmentally sound and sustainable development” - as set out in Article 2(vii) of its mandate.

At the moment it is far from clear that the bank is doing so, partly because of difficulties in accessing information about the results from individual projects eg. on pollution levels over the project period.