🌿 Nature across Europe is in an alarming state. EU funds must be used to tackle the biodiversity crisis. Discover our series of successful biodiversity restoration projects across the EU – highlighting the key role of public finance in safeguarding nature. 🍃 🌟 Read: bankwatch.org/suppor...

1/2 Three decades fighting for climate justice, transparency and human rights in public finance has brought knowledge, experience and wisdom. In this special podcast episode, some of Bankwatch’s longest-serving members reflect on our challenges and wins over the past 30 years.

1/2 Real reform often comes after real harm – a hard truth for advocates of social and climate justice. Campaigning for years and seeing little progress can be frustrating. But our efforts have not been in vain.

From Latvia’s first large-scale heat electrification project to energy-efficient home renovations in Hungary and Estonia, our videos showcase how communities across Europe are tackling energy inefficiency and climate challenges head-on. 👉 Check it out in our Multimedia Hub: bankwatch.org/europe...

🔥 BREAKING: Fossil gas plants in Czechia and Bulgaria secure over half a billion in EU climate money via the Modernisation Fund. And several Member States are eyeing billions more for dirty energy. See more here: bankwatch.org/press_releas...

1/2 🧵Tomorrow, the European Council debates the 2028–2034 EU budget. The budget proposal sidelines nature: 🚫 No biodiversity fund 🚫 No spending targets We’re calling for: ✅ Protection of the LIFE programme ✅ A 10% biodiversity target ✅ Enforcement of the ‘do no significant harm’ principle

💡 Waste incinerators are no longer eligible for EU money. Except via the Modernisation Fund. Wate incineration projects – mainly in Poland and Czechia – have already received over EUR 2 billion from this climate fund. And millions more could be thrown to the rubbish this week.

Cínovec is set to host the EU’s largest hard-rock lithium mine, financed by the @ebrd.bsky.social. However, locals have voiced concerns about a lack of engagement and transparency. As this is not an isolated case, the EBRD must start systematically monitoring this data! bankwatch.org/story/more-t...

Throughout the year, we’ve been updating our Multimedia Hub with fresh content. 🌍 It’s a rich library of insights, voices and visuals on the issues that matter most. 👉 Explore our hub, browse by format, and discover our 2025 highlights! www.bankwatch.org/europeangreendeal#hub

Joint statement: Urgent call on @ifcorg.bsky.social and @ebrd.bsky.social for remedy and accountability at Indorama Agro, #Uzbekistan @ceebankwatch.bsky.social @rightsindevt.bsky.social bit.ly/4pFexRq

1/ As this year marked the release of the first draft of the EU budget, we’ve taken a closer look at what it means for people, the environment, and the future of Europe. ℹ️

📊 This Human Rights week, we urge @ebrd.bsky.social to start monitoring and reporting on public participation in its projects. We’ve compiled data on 38 projects from 15 countries. The EBRD should do this systematically and learn from its past failures! Read our story: bankwatch.org/story/more-t...

BREAKING: Most pipeline projects awarded priority status last week will likely transport gas-based hydrogen, according to our new report with @foodwatereurope.bsky.social This is a direct result of the fossil gas industry’s institutionalized role in the PCI/PMI process. bankwatch.org/publication/...

As the EU designs its next long term budget, two questions stand out – will the new instrument, Ukraine Reserve, fix the flaws of Ukraine Facility and overcome its challenges? 🔧 Read more in our new blog post: bankwatch.org/blog/ukraine... #ukrainianview

A modern district heating and cooling system is just like a choir: it needs different elements, just as a choir needs different voices, to create true harmony. This harmony has been achieved in Tartu, an Estonian town leading the way towards a more energy-efficient, affordable and cleaner future.

Ukraine’s updated Single Project Pipeline now includes 195 initiatives worth UAH 12.54 trillion, but less than 5% is backed by the medium-term plan. Still, issues like centralisation, limited transparency and exclusion of communities hold reforms back. Read more: bankwatch.org/public...

✈️Despite its protected status & years of public concern, Almaty’s 1947 VIP terminal was demolished in an @ebrd.bsky.social-backed airport expansion project. A local group has now filed a formal complaint, citing violations of cultural, environmental & transparency laws. bankwatch.org/blog/replica...

1/ Hanság, once one of central Europe’s largest wetlands, was set to be revived under Hungary’s recovery and resilience plan. But a 2025 plan revision scrapped the project entirely. bankwatch.org/blog/biodive... @foehungary-mtvsz.bsky.social

1/ Our new analysis shows the EU’s Reform and Growth Facility is not yet speeding up the energy transition in the Western Balkans. Only Albania, Montenegro and North Macedonia have made any progress. With EUR 750 million at stake for energy reforms, the EU and governments must speed up.

1/❗It’s time to complete the nature safeguards of the Energy Community Treaty! Environmental rules must match EU standards to ensure fair competition and protect nature.

On 1 December, the @ec.europa.eu chose to sabotage the EU’s energy transition by rolling out the red carpet to a raft of fossil-gas-based hydrogen infrastructure projects. Read more: bankwatch.org/press_releas...

The @ec.europa.eu suggests awarding priority status to over a hundred hydrogen projects, most of them fuelled by fossil gas. MEPs must reject this proposal and revise the rules to keep climate action a priority. Read more here: bankwatch.org/press_releas...

The Projects of Common and Mutual Interest list, just released by the European Commission, is fodder for the hydrogen hype masquerading the fossil gas expansion. EU lawmakers must reject the list and resist hydrogen fantasies promoted by the gas industry. bankwatch.org/press_releas...

❗ TOMORROW, the European Commission will unveil its next Projects of Common and Mutual Interest list. We've seen the latest draft – and it has little to do with Europe’s urgent need to shift away from fossil fuels. 🙅‍♂️ 👉 Read our blog post: bankwatch.org/blog/prefere...

1/5 ❌The Skavica dam is a highly damaging hydropower plant that Albania has been pushing since 2021. But four years later, the project has stagnated, with no environmental permit and no financing. bankwatch.org/blog/albania...

While Western Balkan governments scramble to solve their energy and waste crises by turning to incineration, a clear lesson is emerging from the EU: burning waste is a dead end. 🔥 What are the lessons learned for the Western Balkans? Sofia’s burned lesson: bankwatch.org/blog/sofia-s...

1/3 🌿 Over 80% of Europe’s habitats are in poor condition – nature restoration can’t wait. The EU’s new Nature Restoration Regulation is the first continent-wide effort to revive damaged ecosystems. bankwatch.org/story/engagi...

🔎Our field visits to the EIB-financed Algeti–Sadakhlo & Rustavi–Red Bridge projects in Georgia reveal major issues: lack of consultation, coercive expropriation, poor compensation, harm caused to Azerbaijani communities – all of which breach the @eib.org’s standards‼️ bankwatch.org/publication/...

This episode features a critical conversation on the Social Climate Fund and national social climate plans in light of current trends across CEE. Chris Vrettos from @rescoop.eu sets out civil society’s demands for improving the quality of the plans. 🎧 Tune in: open.spotify.com/episode/133a...

❗ Europe must complete its divorce from Russian fossil fuels. Bankwatch has joined @caneurope.org and 30 other civil society organisations in urging EU trialogue negotiators to ensure a strong, loophole-free regulation: caneurope.org/content/uplo...

♻️Biowaste is key to cutting methane & boosting soil health. Yet it’s still burned or buried across much of central and eastern Europe. Our new briefing shows how EU funds can turn waste into value by investing in proven circular solutions – not incinerators. Read more: bankwatch.org/publication/...

1/ In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Upper Horizons hydropower complex is reshaping the landscape and threatening the rivers Buna, Bunica and Bregava, as well as Hutovo Blato and the Neretva Delta. 🌊

A letter signed by more than 100 organisations was sent to Hoekstra, asking not to bring fossil fuel lobbyists to COP30 🇧🇷 👍 Promisingly, there were no lobbyists in the official EU delegation last year 👎EU Member States still brought 113 lobbyists ✉️: fossilfreepolitics.org/news/cop30-l... #COP30

5 years into the EU's Green Agenda for the Western Balkans, it’s had limited results on the ground. With a new Action Plan endorsed in Oct., our blog examines whether civil society proposals were taken into account, and whether the revised plan can inject new dynamism. bankwatch.org/blog/with-a-...

1/ Europe’s nature is in crisis. The EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 promised to put nature on the road to recovery. But halfway through, it’s clear: we’re off track. ❌ No increase in protected land and sea areas since 2021 1/2

1/2 Over the past decade, the EIB has supported the modernisation of Ukraine’s urban transport through two major projects. 🚌 Despite their benefits, progress has stalled due to systemic challenges and weak environmental protections.

This year’s #UrbanOctober is about building people-centred smart cities. ♻️One key element? Smarter waste management, starting with biowaste! Our upcoming briefing calls for EU funds to help cities improve separate collection & invest in circular solutions. Stay tuned! bankwatch.org/publication/...

From 1 January 2026 – in just two months’ time – the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) will take full effect. Will it help drive a sustainable and just energy transition in the Western Balkans, or result in a perfect storm? Find out more: bankwatch.org/wp-content/u...

A list of EU priority energy projects to be unveiled next month risks enabling a reckless expansion of fossil hydrogen. Both civil society and EU agencies have been warning that a hydrogen-packed PCI list could impede Europe’s energy transition. Read our new blog post: bankwatch.org/blog/prefere...

At the @eib.org civil society seminar, we urged the Bank to update its outdated gender strategy. Amid backlash against LGBTIQ+ 🌈 rights, the EIB must lead by example — embedding equality and inclusion in every investment and policy decision. 👓 Read more: bankwatch.org/blog/ringing...

The EU’s green transition has slipped down the agenda, as shown in talks on the MFF 2028–2034. @ceebankwatch.bsky.social insists: "no one should be left behind on the path to climate neutrality." We met the team in Warsaw to dig into the MFF process and support their campaign.

🏠 Europe’s housing crisis and its climate goals are deeply intertwined. Affordable, social, climate-neutral housing is possible, but not yet the norm. Our briefing explores how EU funds can bridge the climate & housing agendas. bankwatch.org/public...

🚨Hydrogen-hype klaxon! Dozens of fossil gas-based hydrogen projects could soon receive EU priority status, threatening to derail Europe’s energy transition. Read a new open letter from 34 civil society groups on the next Projects of Common Interest list: bankwatch.org/publication/...

🚨Hydrogen-hype klaxon! Dozens of fossil gas-based hydrogen projects could soon receive EU priority status, threatening to derail Europe’s energy transition. Read a new open letter from 34 civil society groups on the next Projects of Common Interest list: bankwatch.org/publication/...

At last week’s @eib.org civil society seminar, we raised alarms over Corridor Vc in Bosnia and Herzegovina – a project marred by stalled works, forced expropriations and threats to ecosystems in a national park proposed for protection. Read more: bankwatch.org/publication/...

As the Berlin Process Leaders’ Summit begins in London, 67 CSOs have shared feedback about the 2025 process. Time to move beyond symbolic participation and strengthen civil society’s role. How? 📖 bankwatch.org/wp-content/u...

🤔 How can art play a role in bringing just transition communities together? In June, activists and artists from just transition regions in Poland, Greece & Romania assembled in Konin to find out! This is their story.

The Buk Bijela dam on the upper Drina raises major environmental, legal & financial red flags. Closed bids from Chinese firms and a flawed EIA put the river’s future at risk. It’s a risky project putting profits over nature. 📢 Stop Buk Bijela! bankwatch.org/stopbu...

Blog article by @ceebankwatch.bsky.social highlights the growing threats and impacts of #BigBadBiomass in West Balkan region. With a link to our map of biomass and pellet plants (also below). www.linkedin.com/posts/cee-ba...

The just transition has led to significant changes across the EU. Today, at the #JustTransitionPlatform, Miłosława Stępień highlighted the importance of continued support and dedicated funding for regions. ‘Leaving no one behind’ should not expire with the end of the EU’s current long-term budget!