EIB and European Environment Agency Deepen Partnership to Drive Climate Action and Biodiversity Protection
(IN BRIEF) The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) have strengthened their collaboration through a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to promote climate action, biodiversity protection, and sustainable finance. The partnership will focus on sharing data, technical expertise, and sustainable finance knowledge to enhance project impact and support the European Green Deal’s goals. The EIB will benefit from the EEA’s data on environmental issues, while the EEA will integrate the EIB’s expertise in sustainable finance to make European environmental data more relevant to financial sectors.
(PRESS RELEASE) LUXEMBOURG, 18-Oct-2024 — /EuropaWire/ — The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Environment Agency (EEA) have announced an enhanced partnership aimed at promoting climate action, environmental sustainability, and sustainable finance. Under a new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the two organizations will collaborate more closely in key technical areas such as biodiversity protection, climate adaptation, circular economy initiatives, and urban sustainability.
This agreement will enable the EIB to leverage the EEA’s expertise in data analysis and environmental modelling to better evaluate projects and assess the impact of its financing efforts. At the same time, the EEA will integrate the EIB’s knowledge in sustainable finance to make environmental data more applicable to the broader financial sector.
EIB Vice President Ambroise Fayolle highlighted the importance of this collaboration: “To tackle the interconnected crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution, we need to work with the best available data and expertise. This strengthened partnership with the EEA will help us enhance the impact of our projects and accelerate the global green transition.”
EEA Executive Director Leena Ylä-Mononen emphasized the role of finance in achieving environmental goals: “Reorienting financial flows toward sustainability is crucial for meeting our climate and environmental objectives under the European Green Deal. This partnership with the EIB will expand our shared knowledge base and support the transition to a more sustainable and competitive European economy.”
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It is active in more than 160 countries and makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.
The EIB Group has consolidated its role as “The Climate Bank”. The EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 lays out how the EIB Group supports the European Green Deal and a just transition to low-carbon, climate-resilient and environmentally sustainable development. Consolidating our role as the EU Climate Bank is one of the eight key priorities in the EIB Group’s 2024-2027 Strategic Roadmap. In 2021, the EIB Group became the first MDB to apply Paris alignment criteria to all its new financing operations. In 2023, the EIB Group achieved a record year of green finance with €49 billion: this is more than 50% of our total financing activities. The mid-term review of our Climate Bank Roadmap has confirmed that the EIB Group is on track to achieve the goal of supporting €1 trillion of green financing in this decade.
The EEA is an agency of the European Union that delivers knowledge and data to support Europe’s environment and climate goals. In collaboration with its partner network, Eionet, the EEA informs decision-makers and the public about the state of Europe’s environment, climate change and wider sustainability issues.
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First published in this link of EuropaWIRE.
