The European Union is committed to becoming the first climate-neutral bloc in the world by 2050. This requires significant investment from both the Union and the national public sector, as well as the private sector. Despite this increased commitment, climate change considerations are still far from being integrated into the business of financial institutions. Transitioning to more sustainable finance can be challenging, as it requires new mechanisms, procedures and tools to identify, design and finance eligible projects.

The scale of the investment challenge requires the financial sector to take a key role by:

reorienting investments towards more sustainable technologies and businesses;
financing growth in a sustainable manner over the long term;
contributing to the creation of a low-carbon, climate-resilient and circular economy.

Over the last few years, the EIB has increased its support to small businesses through intermediated lending products such as Multi-Beneficiary Intermediated Loans (MBILs).

The Bank provides funding to banks, leasing companies or other financial institutions that on-lend the EIB funds to final beneficiaries. Since 2017, the EIB has further developed dedicated windows for climate action within MBILs. There is an increased awareness amongst its financial intermediary clients of the climate action activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance climate resilience.

The EIB and the European Commission have agreed to provide advisory support to an expanded range of climate action investments through the Climate Action Support Facility, using their experience in energy efficiency investments as a model and guide.

The Hub’s experts are helping financial intermediaries understand and address the risks and opportunities of climate change and the resulting investment priorities.

A dedicated section on the EIB website will offer financial intermediaries from across the European Union training material and e-learning modules on climate action lending, including eligibility tools for standard climate action investments and guidelines to implement the Bank’s climate action windows.

Dedicated Hub experts will help individual financial intermediaries develop targeted products and identify eligible projects, establish eligibility checklists, monitoring and impact reporting for loans to small businesses using the MBILs’ climate action windows. The increased number of climate action investments will make a direct contribution to Europe’s transition to a low-carbon and climate-resilient economy.