Last week the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change gave its strongest indication that the planet is headed towards irreversible damage if we do not quit using fossil fuels immediately.
Yet both theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank continue to fund some of the EU’s worst climate offenders, as our new research exposes.
An evaluation of the EIB’s energy portfolio finds that the EU’s house bank is at odds with the Paris Agreement on climate change. What is more, both the EIB and EBRD speak with a forked tongue on addressing the climate crisis, since the two continue to fund a number of companies that enjoy hefty bank support despite a heavy share of fossil fuels on their books.
One of these companies, Serbia’s state utility EPS, is the subject of a Bankwatch complaint to the EBRD’s accountability mechanism, which contends that EPS used money earmarked for preparing it for stronger EU policy to actually dig and burn more coal.
In addition, our latest evaluation of the EBRD’s energy lending finds that fossil fuel lending has been on the uptick since at least 2010.
With both banks now set to review their energy policies, the time has come to prepare these polluters for life beyond coal.
Read more about how this can be done in our latest opinion piece.
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 Serbia is mining away a green futureSerbia’s notorious Drmno coal mine is rapidly expanding on Chinese loans, pushing the country towards high-carbon lock-in and long-term debt. |  EIB obstructs climate action with continued fossil fuels spendingIn the years 2013-2017, the EIB has invested EUR 18.4 billion in renewable energy projects in Europe and beyond, but at the same time handed out EUR 11.8 billion in EU public money to fossil fuels projects. |
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