European Investment Bank to support 1 trillion euros of climate action investment

At the UN Climate Action Summit 2019 and the UN General Assembly, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU Bank, on Saturday announced to unlock and support 1 trillion euros of climate action and environmental sustainable investment in the decade to 2030.

The focus is with increased support for climate change adaptation and climate-resilience. To do this by delivering at least 50 per cent of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025, a statement by the bank said. At the UN Climate Action Summit, it will be discussing its new ambition for climate action with delegates from countries, business, the private sector and civil society.

"We have just over 10 years to turn the tide on the climate and environmental emergency. We are putting our natural resources, our economies, our communities and our way of life at risk, potentially creating an unmanageable situation for the next generation," said EIB President Werner Hoyer.

EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, who is responsible for climate action and environment, added: "The EIB Group has been at the forefront of the fight against the climate emergency, supporting European climate leadership." "Since 2012 we have provided EUR 150 billion of finance supporting EUR 550 billion of investment in climate action and environmental sustainability, making the EIB Group one of the world`s largest multilateral providers of finance for projects supporting these objectives."

The EIB President will discuss how the EU Bank can support a carbon-neutral economy through its future Energy Lending Policy, notably during the Bloomberg Global Business Forum focusing on `Decarbonisation Trends in the Energy Sector` on September 25. The EIB partners with Leadership for Urban Climate Investment (LUCI), one of the official initiatives of the UN Climate Action Summit.

The EIB President will present the initiative at the summit. The initiative aims at strengthening the capacity of 2,000 cities in project preparation, creating 1,000 bankable climate smart urban projects, linking 1,000 of such projects to finance by 2030 and creating new, innovative financing mechanisms that are utilized by 100 projects until 2025.