The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group has said it signed a record amount in new financing for renewables, efficiency, storage and grids in 2022.
Total EIB financing signed for sustainable energy projects inside the EU reached an unprecedented €17.06bn
Overall, the EIB Group, which covers the European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund, signed financing last year worth €72.5bn, which is expected to support around €260bn in investment and create 950,000 jobs by 2026.
Total green financing from the EIB increased to €36.5 billion (58% of the total), meaning that the bank met its commitment to devote at least half of its resources to climate action and environmental sustainability, well ahead of its 2025 target.
Overall, the EIB Group is well on track to achieve its objective of supporting €1tn in green financing this decade, having already backed €222bn in investment over the past two years.
“We delivered on our promises, we exceeded our targets, we put our money where our mouth is,” EIB President Werner Hoyer said at the release of the group’s annual results in Brussels. “The EU bank is deploying the full scale of its financial firepower to cushion the economic fallout from Putin’s unjustified aggression and lay the foundations for a sustainable recovery.
“At a time when the US is rolling out the biggest green subsidy programme in history, it is imperative that Europe keeps up and stays the course, both for the sake of our planet and for safeguarding the competitiveness of our economies,” Hoyer added.
“The EU bank will do its part to finance home-grown innovation that will lead us to net zero.”