The European Investment Bank (EIB) has launched a three-month public consultation to enhance the impact of its future energy lending.
The consultation will enable the bank to improve its lending focus and criteria to reflect energy industry trends and boost support for EU energy and climate goals.
The consultation will include examining how future EIB-backed investment can reduce energy consumption through energy efficiency, better support renewable power generation, improve financial and advisory backing for energy innovation and secure infrastructure essential for energy transition.
Over the next three months, the EIB, which is one of the largest financiers of global energy infrastructure, will engage with a wide range of stakeholders, including shareholders, industry associations, civil society and the private sector to develop a new energy lending policy that supports EU 2030 energy policy and climate targets.
Dialogue with stakeholders will reflect on recent EIB support for energy investment and consider key trends and investment challenges facing the sector.
The discussion will also include specific considerations on supporting energy investment in developing and emerging economies outside Europe.
EIB vice president responsible for energy Andrew McDowell said: “Europe is at the forefront of transformation in the global energy sector and rapid technological change, and is committed to ambitious 2030 energy and climate targets and long-term decarbonisation by 2050.
“As the EU Bank, the European Investment Bank has a unique technical and financial experience supporting energy projects and backing EU energy and climate policy.”
The EIB is one of the world’s largest energy lenders and has provided more than €49 billion for energy investment across Europe and around the world in the last five years.
According to McDowell, over the coming months he and his colleagues will work closely with stakeholders to see how the impact of the EIB’s energy investment can better reflect and accelerate this change.
“I am looking forward to discussing with energy experts from a broad range of stakeholders in February how the EIB can strengthen support for ongoing transformation in the energy sector in the years ahead,” he added.
The EIB will host a public consultation meeting in Brussels in February, followed by consideration of the new Energy Lending Policy by the EIB’s EU member state shareholders later in the year.
The new policy will replace the EIB’s Energy Lending Criteria adopted six years ago in the context of Europe’s 2020 targets that ensured strengthened support for clean energy finance including renewable energy, energy efficiency and related electricity grids.
The 2013 review introduced a new Emissions Performance Standard. This has since been applied to all fossil fuel power generation projects to screen out investment where carbon emissions exceed a threshold level reflecting EU and national commitments to limit carbon emissions.
The new EU energy policy packages seek to facilitate the energy transition and fixes two new targets for the EU for 2030: a binding renewable energy target of at least 32% and an energy efficiency target of at least 32.5%.