Meeting in Luxembourg earlier today the board of the EIB approved a total of EUR 9.2 billion of new financing for 38 projects in 16 European Union countries and around the world in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Meeting in Luxembourg earlier today the board of the European Investment Bank approved a total of EUR 9.2 billion of new financing for 38 projects in 16 European Union countries and around the world in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

This includes support for transformational investment to harness onshore and offshore wind energy, expand high-speed mobile broadband and strengthen industrial innovation. New schemes to improve water infrastructure, build new hospitals and construct new high speed rail links were also approved.

More than EUR 1.8 billion of new financing approved today will support investment in 13 projects guaranteed by the European Fund for Strategic Investments. These include expanding internet access in southern France, and building new windfarms in eastern Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands and Ireland.

“The EIB is the largest multilateral investor in climate action. As the world’s climate leaders meet in Bonn, our commitment to the COP climate targets and to the Sustainable Development Goals is stronger than ever. The projects we approved today are evidence of that. They range from backing solar power in India to reforestation in China and climate-relevant investment in the EU, including under the Investment Plan for Europe. Over the next 5 years we plan to bring close to EUR 100 billion to climate action projects, and continue to partner with other multilateral development banks to ensure that all our financing is complementary and achieves maximum impact.” said Werner Hoyer, President of the European Investment Bank.

Backing new climate related investment to cut emissions and reduce energy use

The new projects expected to be financed by the EIB include EUR 3.7 billion for climate related investment. This includes schemes to adapt water infrastructure to changing weather patterns in the Netherlands and Panama, cut industrial energy use in Italy and Germany, increase use of small-scale hydropower in Greece, generate green energy from biomass in Poland and Croatia, reduce road use in Spain and construct zero energy buildings in Austria.

Supporting sustainable energy and improving security of energy supply

Overall a total of EUR 2.6 billion of new energy financing was approved, including renewable energy projects, investment to replace energy intensive substations in the Ukraine and new support for equity investment in sustainable energy projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

New investment will improve the reliability and security of energy networks in Wallonia and Greece, as well as construct new strategic oil reserves in Cyprus.

Support for small business investment

The board approved more than EUR 4.2 billion of new support for lending to small business by partner banks, including in Spain, Italy, Croatia and Poland.

New focused lending initiatives will finance innovation, digitalisation and internationalisation activities by SMEs and midcap companies in Spain.

Improving urban living through new investment

One new scheme will finance basic public infrastructure in towns in 24 regions across Tunisia.

Improving high-speed rail transport

A new EUR 190 million loan will finance construction and environmental impact mitigation for a new 120km high-speed rail line south of Valencia in Spain.

Financing corporate innovation and research

The EIB board also approved more than EUR 937 million of new financing to support research and innovation by manufacturing, chemical and healthcare companies in Finland, France, Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, Romania and the Netherlands.

Improving health and education facilities

New financing will also support long-term investment in social infrastructure, including new healthcare facilities in the Netherlands and education in the Netherlands and Italy.

Support for public-private finance

Project Finance projects approved by the November meeting include the Oweninny windfarm in Ireland, Blauwwind offshore windfarm in the Netherlands and Var Ultra-Fast Broadband project in France.