Environmentalists picketed the European Investment Bank's conference in Dublin yesterday in protest against its continued funding for "dirty energy" projects in Ireland, other EU member-states and developing countries.
Although the two-day conference theme is "Visions of Environmental Sustainability", Friends of the Earth Ireland complained that none of the €800 million allocated for energy projects in Ireland was going to renewables.
Of the total, €500 million is being loaned to the ESB for upgrading its distribution network, which is overwhelmingly reliant on coal, oil and gas-fired power stations, while Bord Gáis Éireann is to receive €177 million.
"This is an absolute scandal in the era of climate change, especially now that scientists have conclusively proved the link between climate change and human industrial activity," said Mr Tom Prendeville, a Friends of the Earth campaigner.
Friends of the Earth International and the CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) Bankwatch Network, which were represented in the protest, want the bank to set a deadline for phasing out its support for fossil fuels, such as coal, oil and gas.
The environmental groups were "particularly concerned that such fossil fuel plans are hatched in an atmosphere of secrecy due to the bank's worrying lack of transparency, accountability and environmental and social safeguard policies," they said.
Mr Rod Harbison, of Friends of the Earth international, said the bank "must move swiftly to reallocate loans from fossil fuels . . . and target at least 25 per cent of energy loans to renewable energy in the next three years."
Ms Sabine Parisse, spokeswoman for the EIB, said it knew the protesters and was working with the EU Commission to promote "shifts in the balance of energy systems".
It was also involved in discussions about financing wind-power projects in Ireland.
But although it had developed ways of taking climate change into account in appraising projects, she said, it seemed inescapable that fossil fuels would continue to provide most of the world's energy needs in the near future.
Yesterday's protest coincided with the publication in Dublin of a new book, Before the Wells Run Dry: Ireland's Transition to Renewable Energy
