Our Mission is to further the objectives of the European Union by making long-term finance available for sound investment.
The EIB Group promotes Corporate Responsibility through its mission and activities in the service of the European Union, through the way it implements these and through its internal management.
The EIB attaches great importance to engaging with civil society and building cooperative relations with its representatives.
Renewable energy and energy efficiency are key priorities for the EIB in its pursuit of a "greener" energy sector as well as economic and employment growth. In line with the "Action Plan for EU energy policy 2007-2009" adopted in March 2007 by the European Council and with EU policy and legislative initiatives to fight climate change, the EIB has considerably reinforced its contribution in the areas of renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE).
Since 2004, EIB loans for renewable and energy efficiency projects have increased from 25% to more than 50% of the Bank's total energy production lending. The Bank has also adopted a series of measures to strengthen its support to RE and EE:
EIB lending to Renewable Energy
In 2007, the EIB set itself a quantitative lending target for the first time: EUR 0.6 bn for financing renewable energies. However, the 2007 target and subsequent annual targets were consistently exceeded, reaching EUR 2.2bn in 2008.Building on this development, the Bank has now further increased its targets for 2009 and onwards and set itself a floor that at least 20% of future energy projects in the EU should cover renewables.
From 2004-2006 the trend in renewable energies financing was particularly strong for wind energy. In the meantime, other renewable sources, particularly solar and biomass, have taken up a more prominent share of EIB renewable finance appraisal.
Increased support to Energy Efficiency
The Bank also supports EU climate change and energy policies via its promotion of a rational use of energy and lending to energy efficient projects.
The EIB's energy efficiency (EE) target areas include for instance financing EE investment programmes in different sectors such as social housing, schools, industry, etc. as well as combined heat and power (CHP) plants and district heating networks. EE considerations are mainstreamed into all EIB operations, working with promoters to extend the EE potential of projects.
As part of its renewed emphasis on energy efficiency, the Bank gives priority to the financing of two broad categories of projects:
In addition to these central criteria, EU criteria, such as those set out in the Cogeneration Directive and the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings, are applied. In most cases, the Bank asks for energy audits to assess investments according to these criteria.
Furthermore, a number of recent joint EC/EIB initiatives provide further support for energy efficiency:
Two of the main European Union policy objectives that the EIB as a policy driven bank helps to implement are improving the environment and making sure that the EU can rely on sustainable, competitive and secure energy supplies.
The EIB has invested considerable resources in developing initiatives and taking on specific objectives for lending to promote cleaner energy sources, in particular lending for renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE).
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