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The figures should be well known. Somehow, though, in the western world, and especially in official quarters, they tend to get overlooked in the rush to impose the 'next latest thing' on post-revolution Egypt. The country's seven percent GDP growth figure in 2007, hailed by the World Bank and others, concealed a multitude of injustices. For one thing, average per capita GDP growth plummeted from 4.1 per cent prior to 1990 to 2.7 per cent during the neoliberal era set in motion by the IMF structural adjustment regime in 1991.

The European Union has embarked upon an ambitious voyage to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95 percent by 2050. To achieve this goal, a deep transformation of the economy is needed. Such a shift requires significant investments into energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources, but it also means that decisions and infrastructure investments that would lock up our societies in carbon intensive consumption and production patterns need to be avoided.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 80 percent of the cumulative CO2 that can be emitted between 2010 and 2035 if the world is to have a chance of keeping the global mean temperature rise below 2°C is already “locked-in” to existing capital stock. For a 2°C scenario, all investments after 2017 will need to be in zero-carbon utilities, unless existing infrastructure is scrapped before the end of its economic lifespan.

For ‘development’ activists used to fighting the excesses of project finance, it’s a bizarre shift. Instead of touting the usual dams and mines, in recent years ‘development’ banks have gone a step further: giving money directly to hedge funds, private equity firms and financial intermediaries, the croupiers of casino capitalism who almost ruined the world economy back in 2007-8 and are well on their way to ruining it properly this time around.

The rehabilitation of Kiev-Chop road project that received support from the EBRD and the EIB (each EUR 200 million) was supposed to rehabilitate the M06 Kiev-Chop Highway to European standards. Although the project was rated Category B (without significant adverse environmental impacts) it has seriously affected the life of the villagers of Bolyarka and Berezivka (Vasilivsky district, Zhitomir region) that are located along the rehabilitated road.

The briefing is based on a letter sent to the EBRD's Environmental Department in April 2012.

The letter, sent shortly before the European Investment Bank's annual meeting, calls on EIB governors to improve the EIB's lending before increasing its capital base as a response to the European crisis. The letter argues that in order to offer a long term solution, EIB backed projects should be economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. Right now this is not the case.

The project Boskov Most HPP involves the construction of a 33 m high dam and a hydro power plant with a total capacity of 68MW. It is mostly located in the territory of the Mavrovo National Park, one of the oldest and most valuable protected areas in the country.

Since this is only one of many hydropower projects planned in the country, civil society organisations are calling for an assessment of the cumulative effect of all HPPs planned in the Mavrovo National Park before any further steps are taken.