EBRD: New energy strategy

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) released a new energy strategy in December to guide future investments in the energy and natural resources sector. Significantly, given the size of its energy investments – from January 2006 to October 2013 the EBRD invested some €8.6bn ($11.7bn) in 172 energy sector projects – the bank laid out its commitment to public disclosure of subsoil contracts and licences in each hydrocarbon extraction project it finances from 2015. The EBRD is now the second international financial institution, after the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation private sector investment arm, to require loan recipients to disclose the terms and conditions of contracts governing natural resource exploitation.