Looking back at the past year’s activity offers a glimpse of the future thanks to stories of financed projects, statistics, financial and sustainability reporting
While the EIB Group is focused on the response to COVID-19, it is important to remember what it did last year. The projects it financed and the pledges it made shine a light on the institution’s capacity to respond to the pandemic and to contribute to a sustainable recovery in Europe and beyond.
As every year in May, the EIB Group is making available on its website, as of today, four key annual reports for 2019.
The EIB Group 2019 Activity Report tracks the “green thread” running through the bank’s projects in infrastructure, innovation and SMEs to illustrate how vital our investments are to meeting Europe’s climate targets—and to confronting diseases like COVID-19.
Around 31% of our financing supported climate action in 2019. That is above our yearly 25% target. However, we laid down an even more ambitious marker last year. We promise to dedicate 50% of our financing to climate action and environmental sustainability as of 2025. Everything we do will be fully aligned with the Paris Agreement.
Last year we also approved our new energy lending policy. This includes a commitment to end investment in conventional fossil fuel projects from the end of 2021. The European Investment Bank is the first international financial institution to make such a pledge.
In Health and Life science, the European Investment Bank signed to invest €111 million in the EU Malaria Fund, a €240 million investment instrument involving the European Union, international organisations, corporations and civil society. Through the example of the Rijeka clinical centre in Croatia, which received a €50 million EIB loan and advice from the European Investment Advisory Hub, you will also learn how the EIB is keeping hospitals up and running in Europe and beyond.
Other chapters of the Activity Report will take you through the impact of Artificial Intelligence in the food industry; show how a small Spanish enterprise can build batteries and powertrain for minibuses; or open the doors to cold fusion and tactile internet.
Climate Action, Cohesion and Innovation were part of the same story in 2019. Equally, working for a healthy society is part of the EIB Group’s pledge for a greener planet.
Dive into the numbers behind the Activity Report’s case studies with the EIB Group Financial Report 2019 and the EIB Group Statistical Report 2019. The Financial Report includes our financial statements and audit report. The Statistical Report presents all the projects of the European Investment Bank and its specialist SME subsidiary the European Investment Fund.
Finally, we commit that everything the bank does is accomplished with the highest corporate responsibility standards. These are laid out and illustrated in the EIB Group Sustainability Report 2019.
As most countries are slowly relaxing their lockdown measures and try to find the right balance between health priorities and economic necessities, the supporting role of the European Investment Bank will become even more crucial. These four annual reports each offer a different way of reading the massive impact of the EU bank and have a glimpse into a possible future.
https://www.eib.org/en/publications/eib-group-impact-highlighted-in-four-reports