Looking back at 2023: Bankwatch highlights and achievements

Last month, Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine entered its third year. Since February 2022, Bankwatch and our civil society partners in Ukraine have been closely monitoring the country’s remarkable resilience in facing the challenges of war while trying to meet its immediate reconstruction needs.  How have reconstruction efforts advanced over the past two years? And is Ukraine’s recovery green and participatory enough? 

In our first episode of 2024, we shift the focus from our campaigns and projects to the bigger questions that will frame the work of Bankwatch, our civil society partners from Central Europe to Central Asia, and the field of international public finance in the coming year and beyond.   It’s a big year ahead for our 5 main areas: energy transformation and EU funds, the fossil fuel phase-out, democratisation and human rights, biodiversity and finance, and cities for people.   So what can we expect in 2024? Bankwatch’s strategic area leaders share their predictions! 

2023 was an eventful year for many of our campaigns. In this year-end episode, we review highlights and achievements in 4 different areas of our work at Bankwatch. Branka Španiček discusses the state of Europe’s rivers in the context of hydropower, Christophe Jost talks about the EU’s energy transition, in particular the REPowerEU plan, Joanna Jakubowska shares her views on the just transition, and Anna Roggenbuck dissects the European Investment Bank’s problematic approach to transparency and public participation.

Climate change has a major impact on urban life, and cities are a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. International investors are spending billions to help cities tackle environmental problems and adapt to the climate crisis. But are these investments really transformative for the people who live there? Are these billions also making cities more liveable, just and accessible?   In this episode, Fidanka Bacheva-McGrath and Saša Jovanovic (Bankwatch) discuss international public investments in cities from eastern Europe to Central Asia, focusing on recent transformations, challenges and opportunities in the urban transport and waste sectors. Bermet Borubaeva, a researcher and activist in Kyrgyzstan, shares her insights about the issues with Bishkek landfill. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is set to adopt a new mining strategy for 2024-2028. In a draft document, the Bank announced its intention to increase investments in the sector, as more critical raw materials are needed for the green transition. But given the mining industry’s appalling history of environmental pollution, human rights abuses and reprisals against activists, the EBRD must do much more to prevent harm and reduce demand.  Read about the problematic mining cases that Bankwatch has monitored in the past: Amulsar gold mine, Adriatic metals, Oyu Tolgoi. 

Just as the EU is working to end its dependence on Russian fossil gas imports, and the climate crisis is wreaking havoc throughout the world, some European governments are just as keen to channel billions of euros to cement the dependence on fossil gas. In this episode, Raluca Petcu (Bankwatch Romania) and Krzysztof Mrozek (Polish Green Network), discuss a recent report they co-authored, that revealed that the Romanian and Polish governments have together earmarked nearly EUR 4 billion from various EU funds for a raft of fossil gas projects that threaten to derail the energy transition in the two countries.

On 16-18 May 2023, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) held its Annual Meeting in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. This year, human rights violations, shrinking civic space and marginalisation of communities in Central Asia were particularly high on our agenda. In our new podcast episode dedicated to the EBRD Annual Meeting, we interview some of our civil society partners working in the region. Activists from Central Asia share their concerns about human rights and gender equality in Kyrgyzstan, the EBRD’s approach to human rights due diligence in Uzbekistan, the challenges faced by the LBGTIQ community in Central Asia, and more. 

The scramble for fossil gas supplies to replace imports from Russia, triggered by the war in Ukraine, has driven governments in the Baltics to prioritise plans for liquified fossil gas – commonly known as LNG. But this LNG infrastructure spree is reckless.  In this episode, Liene Krauja of Green Liberty in Latvia and Johanna Kuld of the Estonian Green Movement discuss the implications of this rash approach and what the latest developments mean for the Baltic energy transition.  They say the focus of the Lithuanian, Estonian, Latvian and Finnish governments should be on enhancing regional cooperation. The actual priority should be to accelerate the energy transition with a view to ending dependence on fossil gas altogether.

Listen to Katerina Rakovska, Bulgarian biodiversity campaigner, and Thomas Freisinger, EU policy officer at EuroNatur, talk with our host Michaela Kožmínová, Bankwatch communications officer. We discuss the main barriers and bottlenecks at the national level in central and eastern Europe that are preventing an increase in the quantity and quality of EU funds for biodiversity. Our experts also provide recommendations on how we can more effectively use EU funds for nature conservation and restoration.    For more, see our report: Biodiversity on the brink: What's holding back financing for nature in the EU? - Bankwatch  This publication was produced in collaboration with EuroNatur under the framework of joint research and advocacy work financed by EURENI. 

One year ago, Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. To face the damages, Ukraine’s and international efforts to plan the reconstruction and rebuild the country, are underway. On 24 February 2023, we look back and evaluate the progress in Ukraine’s reconstruction planning throughout the past year. What worked well and what didn’t? And what will be the next steps? Listen to our discussion with Anna Ackermann, Board member at Ukraine’s NGO Ecoaction and Policy analyst leading work on a green reconstruction of Ukraine at the International Institute for Sustainable Development, and Valeriya Izhyk, EU policy officer within Ukraine Reconstruction team at Bankwatch.