- The EIB will provide €150 million to help finance SMAT's investment plan for 2022-2027.
- The EIB is the EU climate bank and one of the world's largest lenders to the water sector, with over 1 600 projects and around €79 billion in funding.
- The project is in line with the Paris Agreements and the EIB’s climate goals.
On the sidelines of the Festival dell’Acqua (Water Festival) at Turin's Lingotti conference centre, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and SMAT Group finalised an agreement on a €150 million loan to improve integrated water service coverage and quality in the 303 municipalities of the province of Turin, benefiting around 2.2 million people. The agreement was signed this morning by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and SMAT Chairman Paolo Romano.
This is among the EIB's first green loans to the water sector, and aims to enhance SMAT's water management via a series of sustainability, climate action and environmental projects.
In concrete terms, the EIB support will help upgrade SMAT's water collection and treatment facilities and strengthen the distribution and wastewater collection network. The end goal is to increase the efficiency, security and resilience of water and wastewater services, in line with the Paris Agreements and the objectives of the EIB’s Climate Bank Roadmap.
The EIB is the EU climate bank and one of the world's largest lenders to the water sector, with over 1 600 projects and around €80 billion in funding. Between 2016 and 2021, the EIB provided over €2.3 billion for 30 operations in Italy, helping to unlock investments of almost €7.6 billion. This financing for SMAT, the fifth provided by the EIB, comes in addition to agreements recently signed with Iniziative Bresciane (IBRE), BrianzAcque (BA), CAP Group, Tea Spa, Alfa S.r.l and Veritas.
EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti said: “Italy has one of the highest rates of water use per capita in Europe, while also having one of the lowest levels of investment in water service maintenance. The longstanding partnership between the EIB and SMAT — further strengthened by this operation — will enable 2.2 million residents of the province of Turin to benefit from a more efficient, secure and resilient water service.”
SMAT Chairman Paolo Romano added: “This financing furthers the relationship between SMAT and the EIB and comes in addition to the €410 million already provided to the company from 2007 to 2021, €290 million of which has been fully repaid. The EIB financing is among SMAT's recent successes, demonstrating the soundness of its operational and financial performance.”
Background information
Between 2019 and 2021, the EIB Group provided more than €36 billion in financing for projects in Italy.
SMAT
SMAT is an integrated water service leader, providing drinking water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment services for over 2.2 million residents in 290 municipalities of the Turin metropolitan area.
It designs, builds and manages diversified water supply sources, technologically advanced drinking water plants, urban wastewater treatment and reuse plants, collection, treatment and reuse plants, and cogeneration and energy recovery plants.