the EU bank

Paul Helminger, Mayor of the City of Luxembourg, and François Bausch, Deputy Mayor in charge of mobility, signed an agreement with the European Investment Bank, represented by Rémy Jacob, Director General for Strategy, and Michel Grilli, Human Resources Director, on the acquisition of the “jobkaart” for the staff of this European institution.

As from 1 February, EIB staff will therefore be free to use the bus network of the City of Luxembourg throughout the capital. “With this approach we want to encourage those people who do not always need to use their car every day for getting to and from work to opt for public transport and so discover the many benefits of this alternative means of transport, while at the same time doing their bit for the environment”, explained Mr Bausch.

For the EIB, the bank of the European Union, which includes action to deal with climate change as one of its priorities, opting for the “jobkaart” is also an internal manifestation of its external undertakings. At the signing ceremony, Mr Jacob pointed out that this decision had been taken pursuant to the EIB’s Social and Environmental Responsibility Programme. “It is one of the measures through which we are aiming to reduce our environmental footprint”, he explained. “The first measure was to ensure that our new building should consume very little in the way of energy. That is the case: it is a model of its kind, designed and constructed in accordance with this environmental objective, the first in mainland Europe to have been “certified” as such. Through this partnership with the City, we are encouraging our staff to make regular use of public transport. If some 10% of them take advantage of the “jobkaart”, the EIB will meet its target of reducing CO2 emissions by around 170 tonnes a year.”

Mr Grilli pointed out that the initiative concerned the 1 700 EIB Group staff located in Luxembourg and that “the announcement of the partnership with the City had been well received”. The HR Department will be responsible for implementing and following up the scheme, and he added that, “if the assessment is positive, the EIB undertakes to extend the scheme beyond 2010”.

Since its launch in 2007, this initiative had attracted the interest of many companies located in the City. Mr Helminger stated: “We are particularly glad that the European Investment Bank has embraced the concept of the “jobkaart” and is thus supporting the efforts to make Luxembourg citizens and those who work in the capital aware of the need for a more environmentally friendly means of travel. In the long term this scheme will ease congestion in the City, reduce the number of cars on the road during the rush hour and so improve people’s quality of life”.