- The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide free technical assistance to improve Ischia’s resilience against future extreme weather events and plan sustainable reconstruction of the island.
- The EIB has previously contributed €600 million for reconstruction of areas affected by the 2012 earthquake in Emilia-Romagna and €2.75 billion for reconstruction in the regions of central Italy hit by earthquakes in 2016 and 2017.
Improving climate resilience to future extreme weather events and helping to plan the sustainable reconstruction of Ischia following the landslides and floods that struck the island in November 2022, causing 12 deaths and severely damaging infrastructure, are the main goals of the free technical advisory agreement announced today by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti and Giovanni Legnini, the Italian government’s Extraordinary Commissioner for operations in Ischia municipalities affected by the 2017 earthquake.
The free technical advisory services provided by the EIB under the Climate Adaptation Investment Advisory Platform (ADAPT) will help identify climate adaptation activities, investment options and needs for the technical design of Ischia’s reconstruction in order to reset and improve the resilience of the affected areas and support the competent authorities’ preparations.
Under this mandate, recommendations will be made to Extraordinary Commissioner Legnini on the investment options and climate resilience services required by the public sector to make post-disaster recovery and reconstruction activities more resilient, based on the best available climate data and information. The technical assistance provided by the EIB will also help identify the options and sources of financing for the proposed activities to which the EU bank could potentially contribute direct financing if the conditions were met.
It should be noted that the EIB — the European Union’s climate bank and one of the biggest public infrastructure lenders in Europe — has in the past provided €600 million in financing towards industrial reconstruction in the areas affected by the 2012 earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna and €2.75 billion for public and private reconstruction efforts in the regions of central Italy hit by earthquakes in 2016 and 2017.
“The free technical assistance provided to public authorities by the EIB will play a key role in designing, planning and promoting projects to make affected areas safer, more efficient, more resilient and especially more sustainable across Europe. Through this mandate, we will provide the competent authorities and Commissioner Legnini with the assistance needed to prevent potential damage from future extreme weather events and ensure that the reconstruction of the island of Ischia is sustainable,” said EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti.
“I wish to thank the EIB and Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti for today’s key meeting on the island of Ischia and the preliminary agreement concluded to provide free technical assistance for future hydrogeological and mitigation measures as well as sustainable reconstruction efforts. The EIB’s firm support and potential future financing based on agreements that the Bank may enter into with the government will be crucial for making the hydrogeological safety and reconstruction process a key element of sustainability and climate action in order to aid the recovery of Casamicciola and the whole island of Ischia,” said Commissioner Giovanni Legnini.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) finances projects in four priority areas: infrastructure, innovation, climate and environment, and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Between 2019 and 2022, the EIB Group provided more than €45 billion in financing for projects in Italy.