To reach the 1.5°C target, we must emit less than about 580 gigatonnes of CO₂. That’s our carbon budget—forever. At the current rate of about 37 gigatonnes per year, we will have exhausted this by 2032. We need to decarbonise quickly. The next decade will be critical.

Climate in everything we do

The European Investment Bank has been the EU’s climate bank for a long time. Our climate strategy defines our mission: to play a leading role in mobilising the finance needed to achieve the worldwide commitment to keep global warming well below 2˚C, aiming for 1.5˚C.

Since 2012, the EIB provided €170 billion of finance supporting over €600 billion of investment in projects that reduce emissions and help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. This makes the EIB one of the world’s largest multilateral providers of finance for projects supporting these objectives.

Increased ambition for Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability

Ahead of the 2019 United Nations climate change conference in Madrid, the EIB Board of Directors approved a new set of targets for climate action and environmental sustainability, drastically increasing its ambition for the critical decade. This includes three key elements:

• The EIB Group will aim to support EUR 1 trillion of investments in climate action and environmental sustainability in the critical decade from 2021 to 2030;
• The EIB will gradually increase the share of its financing dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability to reach 50% of its operations in 2025 and from then on;
• The EIB Group will align all its financing activities with the principles and goals of the Paris agreement by the end of 2020.

We are already working on measures to complement this roadmap and ensure EIB financing contributes to a just transition for regions or countries that will be more affected, so that no one is left behind in the fight against climate change.

Key figures

In 2019, the European Investment Bank exceeded its climate action target for the tenth year running, providing €19.3 billion to fight climate change. That’s 31% of all our financing.

IFI reports on accounting on GHG emissions

• International Financial Institution Framework for a Harmonised Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting
• International Financial Institutions approach to GHG accounting for Energy efficiency
• International Financial Institutions approach to GHG accounting for Renewable energy projects
• International Financial Institutions approach to GHG assessment in the Transport sector

Tailored support for your project

The EIB partners with other public and private investors to unlock further investment in climate and environmental projects.

We finance large projects with direct project loans and provide indirect support to smaller projects through credit lines to local banks or other intermediaries. We also provide support for urban development.

We complement our traditional lending with innovative finance products:

• Climate Awareness Bonds (EIB Green Bonds)
• Climate Action in the Middle East and North Africa (CAMENA)
• Equity and fund investments
• European Local ENergy Assistance (ELENA)
• InnovFin
• Structured finance
• Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE)
• Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF)
• Future mobility