European Investment Bank (EIB) is the European Union (EU)’s bank, created by the Treaty of Rome in 1958 and wholly owned by the 27 EU member states. EIB is the largest multilateral financial institution in the world and one of the largest providers of climate finance.

The bank is the lending arm of the EU: its task is to provide finance and expertise for sound and sustainable investment projects furthering EU policy objectives. In particular, EIB supports projects that make a significant contribution to growth and employment. Its focus is on the following priority areas: climate and environment, innovation and skills, infrastructure, access to finance for smaller businesses, cohesion, and development.

While most of its operations are in Europe, EIB is active in 140 countries. It finances its operations by raising substantial volume in the international capital markets and passes its funding advantage onto clients on the lending side.

EIB’s sustainability-funding team pursues the issuance of Climate and Sustainability Awareness Bonds (CABs and SABs). The first CAB was issued in 2007 and inaugurated the green-bond market. CABs are allocated to financing activities contributing substantially to climate-change mitigation. The first SAB was issued in 2018. SABs complement CABs with allocations to further areas of environmental and social sustainability.

Loan eligibility is being extended in line with evolving EU legislation on sustainable finance and the upcoming EU Sustainability Taxonomy (EST). When adopted, the EST will provide a shared definition of core aspects of sustainability, so a consistent set of standards can be developed for sustainable investment.

EIB is the first issuer to have tuned the documentation of its CABs and SABs to the upcoming EST so as to permit a gradual extension of loan eligibility in line with evolving EU legislation. This will be achieved via progressive adaptation of eligibility criteria and establishment of the required procedures and IT infrastructure.

This commitment establishes a direct link between EU sustainability-policy objectives and EIB’s sustainability funding and eligible lending activities. This alignment takes place in the context of EIB’s new strategy for climate action and environmental sustainability, which aims to increase the share of the bank’s financing in these areas to 50% of new operations by 2025.

Regarding CABs, a first extension based on the EST proposals and approach took place in June 2020. SAB eligibilities were extended in April 2020 to other financing areas directly related to the fight against COVID-19.

SUSTAINABILITY OBJECTIVES OF GSS BOND PROGRAMMES
CAB: Climate-change mitigation
SAB: Environmental objectives beyond climate-change mitigation, social objectives

PUBLIC ISSUER ESG RATINGS/SCORES

Nathalie de Weert
Head of Funding for Public Markets
+352 4379 86210
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Aldo Romani
Head of Sustainability Funding
+352 4379 86230
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www.eib.org/investor_relations