About the report
The United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) guide international efforts to end world poverty, protect the planet and ensure that everyone can enjoy peace and prosperity. These goals are integrated into all European Union policies. The European Investment Bank Group (EIB Group) – which comprises the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Investment Fund (EIF) – has been tracking and reporting its SDG contributions since 2016. While its main focus is on climate action, the EIB Group’s activities impact all SDGs. This publication showcases the EIB Group’s contributions to the SDGs through its activities in 2023.
The European Investment Bank’s financial contribution to the SDGs in 2023
EIB-backed projects bring the greatest financial contribution to goals involving the sectors in which the Bank has traditionally been the most active, such as SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 11 (sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 7 (affordable and clean energy). Nonetheless, EIB projects also contribute significantly to the less sector-specific SDGs, as they feature a complex interplay of less tangible factors, both natural and human-induced. The EIB’s contribution to SDG 13 (climate action) is especially noteworthy.
The following charts illustrate the EIB’s impact through its contributions to the SDGs within and beyond the European Union.
For more details about how the EIB contributes towards the SDGs read the full report here.
The European Investment Fund’s contribution to the SDGs in 2023
The following chart illustrates how the EIF’s activities contributed to the SDGs in 2023. The EIF made the most significant contributions to SDGs 8 and 911 due to its focus on supporting job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encouraging the formalisation and growth of microenterprises and SMEs, including through access to financial services; and on helping small-scale industrial and other enterprises to access financial services (including affordable credit), and promoting their integration into value chains and markets.
For more details about how the EIF contributes towards the SDGs read the full report here.
Methodology
EIB
The EIB’s SDG reporting methodology is comparable to that of other multilateral development banks in financial terms and in terms of project outputs and outcomes.
All EIB-supported projects are designed to have a positive socioeconomic impact and sound financial returns. The EIB measures its impact by collecting detailed data on project outputs and outcomes. This ensures that the tangible benefits of the Bank’s activities are calculated at various levels – sectoral, national and international.
The EIB maps its project indicators to the appropriate SDGs. Each indicator can be linked to up to two different SDGs, reflecting the interconnected nature of the goals. In addition, the financial contribution is assigned to one primary SDG: the one closest to the main objective of the project.
For more detail on the methodology read the full report here.
EIF
The operations carried out by the EIB and the EIF are different in nature. Each entity’s approach to measuring their contributions to the SDGs reflects the specific characteristics of their respective business models. The EIF works with financial intermediaries to promote access to finance for small businesses and entrepreneurs in line with the European Union’s priorities. This is why the EIF’s SDG reporting is based on the amount of financing made available to these intermediaries. Each operation’s contribution to the SDGs is determined by how it aligns with the EIF’s policy framework, which includes four public policy goals and 16 policy objectives , each mapped to one or more SDG targets. To calculate the contribution of EIF operations to the SDGs, we map the operations to these policy objectives.