European Investment Bank Group Sustainability Report 2020. Группа авторов

change, which the European Commission presented in December 2019.

      One of the biggest issues of our time, climate change is physically threatening our coastlines, soil, health and biodiversity, and posing severe challenges for people and their livelihoods. Combating the physical and transition risks of climate change, while also adapting to its consequences, requires huge amounts of investment in renewable energy generation, low-carbon transport and climate-smart agriculture, along with new ways of thinking about how to move to low-carbon, resilient and circular economies.

      CLIMATE BANK ROADMAP: AMBITIOUS TARGETS

      STEPPING UP CLIMATE FINANCE

      The EIB Group is well prepared for what the future holds – a carbon-neutral economy. At the UN Climate Conference in Paris in 2015, we committed to financing $100 billion in climate investments from 2016 to 2020. With $122 billion in climate action investment signed in this period, we considerably exceeded this target.

      The Climate Bank Roadmap details the EIB Group’s role in supporting the European Green Deal. The Green Deal is the European Commission’s framework for making the European Union’s economy sustainable by turning climate and environmental challenges into opportunities, and by making the transition just and inclusive for all. It consists of sector strategies and other elements such as the Just Transition Mechanism for regions that depend on carbon-intensive industries, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and the Circular Economy Action Plan. It also includes a Farm to Fork Strategy for agriculture and food security, a strategy on adaptation to climate change, as well as initiatives targeting the financial sector such as the EU Taxonomy for sustainable green investments and new regulations on non-financial disclosures.

      The EIB Group, through a wide spectrum of financial products and advisory services, is helping the European Union to deliver on these ambitions.

      FOUR KEY AREAS

      The EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap adopts these commitments by focusing on four key areas.

      1. Accelerating the transition

      The roadmap details our new level of commitment to accelerating the transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy. By 2025, the EIB will increase its support for climate action and environmental sustainability to exceed 50% of its overall lending.

      This means that we will continue to support areas that have already made considerable progress in the transition (such as low-carbon electricity, electric vehicles and battery storage) and tackle other areas that are lagging behind. For investments in natural capital – carbon sinks, biodiversity and ecosystem preservation, for example – the transition has barely begun.

      To accelerate the transition, the Climate Bank Roadmap stresses four key messages about the value that the EIB Group can provide. A major one is substantially increasing adaptation efforts, supporting the new EU Adaptation Strategy. A second message is to focus on investment in innovative green technologies, alongside new business models. A third is to help drive down the long-term cost of capital in capital-intensive green infrastructure. Finally, the EIB can help drive aggregation, scalability and replicability to boost investment.

      In close cooperation with EU Member States, the EIB Group will use this support to help deliver national energy and climate plans, national adaptation strategies, as well as recovery and resilience plans. This approach extends beyond the European Union, where the EIB works with individual countries to support ambitious nationally determined contributions (NDC Spotlight | UNFCCC). This includes projects in some of the most vulnerable regions on our planet.

      2. Ensuring a just transition for all

      Supporting cohesion was one of the founding principles of the EIB when it was established in 1958, and it continues to be a core priority. The green and resilient transition should leave no person or region behind. A just transition is of particular concern for countries that currently rely on carbon-intensive sectors or where local economies may become less viable due to climate change. In both cases, strategic action is needed to develop new skills in the workforce along with new, green and resilient economies for the cities and regions affected.

      The Just Transition Mechanism is the cornerstone of the European Union’s response to this challenge. The EIB Group will play a central role in the mechanism, supporting, to varying degrees, each of its three main pillars: (1) the Just Transition Fund, (2) the InvestEU programme, and (3) a public-sector loan facility. Our Advisory Services team will complement and support all three pillars, providing guidance on everything from strategies to market development and project implementation. The EIB will present a detailed Just Transition plan in 2021, once the Just Transition Mechanism is agreed by EU members.

       InvestEU

      InvestEU builds on the success of the Juncker Plan, the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and other existing financial instruments such as the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), InnovFin and the Competitiveness of Enterprises and Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (COSME) programme, which are managed and implemented by the EIB Group. It will be based on a €26.2 billion guarantee from the EU budget and aims to mobilise around €370 billion of investment to keep the European Union socially aware, green and competitive. In addition to implementing 75% of the programme and the responsibilities the EIB will have for managing the banking aspects of the programme in partnership with the European Commission, the EIB will also provide technical support to project promoters under the InvestEU Advisory Hub, continuing the advisory work developed under the Juncker Plan.

      A just and inclusive transition is directly linked to the wider issue of social development. Climate change continues to disproportionately affect least developed countries, and disadvantaged and vulnerable populations, specifically undermining people’s health, incomes, livelihoods, food security and human rights. Carefully targeted investments can contribute to the green transition and social development. At the EIB, we are supporting both objectives and stepping up our efforts for two key themes: (i) gender equality and (ii) conflict, fragility and migration. We believe that gender-responsive investments can strengthen climate, environmental and social outcomes and increase the overall positive impact of projects. At the same time, reducing fragility can also contribute to the success of a just transition. Our activities here will further support climate adaptation and resilience projects in fragile contexts, urban infrastructure that is resilient to future shocks (such as the influx of refugees and migrants), disaster preparedness and post-disaster recovery.

      3. Supporting Paris-aligned operations

      The European Union has committed to reducing greenhouse gases by at least 55% by 2030 and