CCB calls to postpone the adoption of the Lynetteholm project

CCB • June 3, 2021

 

CCB as an environmental NGO network, was approached by our Danish and German members with an information about ongoing discussions on the Lynetteholm project and its expected adoption by the Danish Parliament in early June. It appeared rather alerting as despite of the scale of the project and potential magnitude of its impacts on the Baltic marine environment, no information about any wider international consultations was available. The impacts for the whole Baltic Sea are primarily connected with obstruction of salt water inflow to the Baltic from the North Sea, which is vital for oxygenation of oxygen-depleted bottom layers and serves important role in Baltic biogeochemical cycle .

 

CCB as an active Observer to the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (Helsinki Commission) has filed a request HELCOM for such information to be provided to other Baltic countries (along with similar requests for 2 other large-scale infrastructure projects in Russia and Poland). It will be raised at the 60 th Meeting of HELCOM Heads of Delegation that happens today and tomorrow.

At the same time our members have approached national contact points for Espoo Convention on environmental impact assessment in transboundary context, asking whether any notification about Lynetteholm was given to other neighbouring countries. None of those, but Sweden, were informed about the project and Swedish response from various authorities to the proposed project was strongly negative. Based on inquiries to relevant authorities, now Germany, Poland, Lithuania and Finland, have asked Denmark for further information on the project.

Finally, given the short deadline before the hearings in the Danish Parliament, CCB submitted an open letter prior to it, referring to the contradictions of the project approval without proper consultations with the Baltic Sea countries. The letter has been also shared with the European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries , as well as with Directors General of respective DG of the European Commission and the Chair of the Baltic Sea Parliamentary Conference . In a letter, CCB calls for a postponement of the adoption of the project before necessary transboundary consultations are being held and respective impact mitigation measures are jointly devised.

CCB is looking for a Network Officer to join our team at the CCB International Secretariat

By CCB • April 9, 2025
Coalition Clean Baltic – CCB is a politically independent network, uniting 27 environmental non-profit organizations, as well as partners and experts from 11 countries surrounding the Baltic Sea. The main goal of CCB is to promote the protection and improvement of the environment and natural resources of the Baltic Sea region by encouraging new and constructive approaches and engaging people to become part of the solution instead of part of the problem. CCB Secretariat is based in Uppsala, Sweden.

Attacks on NGOs: 570+ Organisations Join Forces to Defend Civil Society

By CCB • April 7, 2025
European civil society organisations (CSOs) are currently facing an attack coming from certain Members of the European Parliament. Spearheaded by some MEPs from the European People’s Party (EPP) and by far-right groups, this attack resorts to misleading arguments to fabricate a scandal. This portrayal has been amplified through the media, with notable exceptions of articles that attempted to clarify this misleading narrative. European CSOs are crucial to ensure the voices of citizens from different parts of Europe are heard in the EU institutions. Attacks against civil society are unfortunately not new and are exacerbated by this harmful idea. Furthermore, for-profit corporate lobbying is through the roof when compared to non-profit advocacy. In 2024, the 50 corporations with the largest lobbying budgets collectively spent nearly €200 million on lobbying the EU alone (66% more than in 2015). Comparing this to the funding environmental NGOs receive under the LIFE programme - €15.6 million annually of a €700 million yearly budget - truly shows the weakness of this ‘scandal’. This is why over 570 civil society organisations from 40 countries, including all EU Member States, have joined forces to call on those in power to act now and ensure that civil society is adequately funded and enabled to share our crucial perspectives . In this statement, we address: The source of this false narrative; Inaccurate claims made about how CSOs obtain and use funding; Why it’s paramount that CSOs receive sufficient funding; The need for civil dialogue to enable CSOs participation. Democracy is about the right of citizens to be collectively heard for building an inclusive society and a shared European future; properly funded independent CSOs are a crucial tool for that. We call on decision-makers to ensure civil society organisations can thrive and play their role in interacting with policy-makers in order to have a more fully informed decision-making process. Read the full statement here . -END Civil Society Europe (CSE) is the coordination of civil society organisations at EU level. Through its membership, CSE unites EU-level membership-based organisations that reach out to millions of people active in or supported by not-for-profits and civil society organisations across the EU. CSE was created by several civil society organisations as a follow-up to the European Year of Citizens and was established as an international not-for-profit under Belgian law in 2016. Since then, it has become the point of reference for EU institutions on transversal issues concerning civil dialogue and civic space.