Formal complaints lodged against questionable EBRD energy loans

Bankwatch Mail | 13.03.2012

Early in the new year Bankwatch and partner groups lodged two complaints with the EBRD's Public Complaint Mechanism (PCM): one concerning the loan agreement for the Rivne-Kyiv High Voltage Line project in Ukraine, the other concerning the EBRD's Šoštanj lignite thermal power plant loan in Slovenia.

This article is from Issue 51 of our quarterly newsletter Bankwatch Mail

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Bankwatch's Ukrainian member group NECU contends that the loan agreement between Ukraine and the EBRD for the Rivne-Kyiv High Voltage Line project (connected to the controversial "Second Backbone Corridor") included significant parts of the project that were not assessed in the obligatory environmental and social impact assessment prior to project approval. The complaint requests an investigation into the circumstances of the loan decision.

In the case of Šoštanj, Bankwatch, the Slovenian NGO Focus and the Czech-based Environmental Legal Service have asked the EBRD's PCM to undertake a compliance review of whether the bank has complied with its own Environmental and Social Policy in relation to two aspects of the power plant deal:

Claims by the EBRD that the project is "CCS (carbon capture and storage) ready"; and
The EBRD's assessment of whether Slovenia can fulfil its obligations in meeting the EU's long-term 2050 climate goals if it undertakes the project.

On both points the groups presented the PCM with evidence to suggest that the EBRD's assessments were of insufficient rigour.