As the critical decade for climate action advances, the European Investment Bank is doing everything possible to help meet the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. The EIB Group outlined the steps to success in its Climate Bank Roadmap.

The financial sector needs to guide more investments towards green technologies and businesses, focusing on sustainable growth and the creation of a low-carbon, climate-resilient economy. To speed up the transition of companies, the Bank is increasing its support for small businesses by helping private banks, leasing institutions, national promotional banks and other institutions to give more loans to green projects.

The private banks act as financial intermediaries between the EIB and the project owners, applying the EIB’s green eligibility rules, in line with the principles of the EU taxonomy on sustainable development. Advisory services play a key role in helping these financial intermediaries understand and address the risks and opportunities of climate change investments. A comprehensive advisory package for financial institutions supporting climate action and environmental sustainability investments has been designed with the support of the European Investment Advisory Hub.

Under an initiative called the Green Gateway — Advice for Financial Institutions, the Bank provides a wide range of services, including support for developing financial products, portfolio screening, project origination, impact reporting and monitoring, and on-the-job training. Each advisory assignment with a financial intermediary is tailored to the client’s specific needs. We focus on enhancing the capabilities, procedures and tools of financial intermediaries.

At the 26^th climate conference in Scotland in October 2021, the EIB launched the Green Eligibility Checker, an online tool that helps financial intermediaries originate, appraise and report on green investments. This eligibility tool has been integrated into the Bank’s Green Gateway portal. The Green Eligibility Checker is easy to use and offers a wide range of assistance. It asks intermediaries to enter the location of a potential project, the investment measures to be assessed and the basic project information, and then the tool does the rest.

At the end of the assessment process, a report is generated containing the green eligibility assessment and estimated climate impact (CO₂ reductions, energy savings, renewable energy generation capacity). This data can be used for intermediaries’ internal discussions, shared with clients or as part of reporting requirements when working with other institutions or the European Investment Bank. The tool helps to build the confidence of employees at financial intermediaries and their ability to inform their clients about the climate impact and estimated financial savings of their green projects.

By making the Green Eligibility Checker available at no cost and without the need to register, the EIB hopes to inspire the wider community of financial institutions and other market participants to align their activities with EIB green standards and increase investment in carbon neutral projects. The new tool will continue to evolve in line with EU taxonomy developments and help increase the use of taxonomy principles in the banking and leasing markets.