The Green Gateway

The European Union aims to achieve climate-neutrality by 2050, a goal that requires significant public and private investment. Sustainable financing presents complex challenges and demands new financing mechanisms. A major milestone in this process is the EU taxonomy – a classification system that provides definitions for sustainable activities, ensuring that investments labelled as green contribute to climate objectives.

Financed by the InvestEU Advisory Hub, the Green Gateway is an EIB Advisory initiative that helps financial institutions assess the eligibility and impact of green projects. It offers tools like the Green Eligibility Checker and the EIF Sustainability Guarantee Tool, along with a green eligibility helpdesk, web seminars and other assistance. Green Gateway tools help EIB Group clients in channelling funding for green projects.

Under the Green Gateway, EIB Advisory provides targeted support to financial intermediaries to accelerate lending for climate projects. This support includes product development, portfolio screening, impact reporting, and training to enhance the intermediaries’ ability to screen and report on eligible transactions. Launched in 2021, the initiative has supported over 37 financial intermediaries in 19 countries. The Green Eligibility Checker and the EIF Sustainability Guarantee Tool have been visited over 70 000 times since 2021.

Paving the way for green finance in Portugal

Banco Português de Investimento (BPI) is the fifth-largest bank in Portugal, focusing on retail and corporate banking. To enhance its sustainability business, EIB Advisory is helping the bank identify, finance and report on green projects.

This support included product development, project origination, green eligibility screening and impact reporting. EIB Advisory provided recommendation reports, training sessions for front office staff, and helped BPI integrate the Green Eligibility Checker into its IT systems.

“The advisory services helped align BPI’s lending operations with sustainable finance standards,” says Rodrigo Aguiar Quintas, the bank’s executive director. “The training sessions, detailed guidance documents, specialised tools, and collaborative workshops were invaluable. This has equipped us to pitch green products to our clients more effectively and reinforces our commitment to sustainable finance."

The collaboration between EIB Advisory and BPI represents a significant step for sustainable finance in Portugal. By leveraging the European Investment Bank’s expertise and resources, BPI can help lead the charge in green investments and sustainable economic development. This work can serve as a model for other financial institutions aiming to enhance green investments.

Green Gateway support for Banco Santander

Banco Santander wants to support the green transformation of small and medium Spanish companies. To make the most of the European Investment Bank’s lending products and enhance its ability to invest in climate action, Banco Santander requested support from EIB Advisory via the Green Gateway. Bank experts helped Banco Santander develop new financial products targeting small and medium companies and establish green eligibility screening methods. The advice improved impact reporting and EU taxonomy implementation, as well as financial risk management.

European Investment Bank experts and external consultants organised workshops and training to help Banco Santander’s front office better understand EU taxonomy requirements and develop a pipeline of projects to be financed by the European Investment Bank’s lending operations.

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Launched in 2021, the Green Gateway initiative has supported over 37 financial intermediaries in 19 EU countries.

Paving the way for green finance in Portugal

Green Gateway support for Banco Santander