- Bringing together financial and technical expertise for low-carbon investments.
- Focus on environmental sustainability, renewable energy and energy efficiency.
- Supporting greening of cities, scalable innovation and digital transformation.
Meeting today at the EIB’s headquarters in Luxembourg, the European Investment Bank and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH renewed their partnership to further help low and middle-income countries to mitigate and adapt to climate change, foster a just transition and strengthen resilience — in the collaborative spirit of Team Europe.
The partnership between EIB and GIZ builds on the successful Financing Energy for Low-carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility (FELICITY) and City Climate Finance Gap Fund joint initiatives, helping cities to establish and finance sustainable infrastructure projects. In 2022, the institutions will also explore cooperation under the EIB’s newly established Green Hydrogen Fund to promote sustainable development and decarbonisation through the sustainable production and application of green hydrogen and its derivatives in partner countries and territories eligible to receive official development assistance (ODA).
In addition, EIB and GIZ today launched the FELICITY II - Eastern Partnership and Central Asia project implementation agreement aiming to support the preparation and implementation of low-carbon and climate-resilient infrastructure projects, mainly in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Uzbekistan. Under FELICITY II, funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), GIZ and the EIB will cooperate to accelerate investments in particular in the water, wastewater and energy efficiency sectors.
Chair of the GIZ Management Board Tanja Gönner said: “The European Investment Bank is an important international player in the field of climate finance and a respected partner for development finance. I am very pleased to continue and deepen GIZ’s cooperation with the EIB. Both institutions complement each other, combining technical assistance with financing power to jointly tackle the challenges of climate change and sustainable development.”
EIB President Werner Hoyer said: “I am delighted to intensify our excellent collaboration with GIZ. We have already successfully joined forces to support greener and more resilient cities through FELICITY and the City Climate Finance Gap Fund. With EIB Global, our new branch for international development and partnerships, we want to strengthen such collaborations to tackle the climate crisis and scale up development impact around the world.”
The cooperation will prioritise climate adaptation and mitigation, with a focus on rapidly growing cities and low-carbon service infrastructure.
The partnership also foresees joint technical and financial support for renewable energy and energy efficiency, as well as solid waste management, water and wastewater treatment with a view to reducing marine litter.
Furthermore, EIB and GIZ seek to contribute to advance digital transformation by enhancing connectivity and reducing the digital divide to ensure no one is left behind.
FELICITY currently supports the preparation of ten urban investment projects. The FELICITY pilots in Mexico, Indonesia, Ecuador and Brazil have an estimated investment volume of €322 million and are expected to reduce emissions to up to 1.98 million tCO2eq over 15 years. They range from energy efficiency in public buildings and hospitals in Mexico City and improvement of the stormwater network and sewerage system in several cities in Ecuador, to solar photovoltaic energy in the schools of Porto Alegre and bus rapid transit in Indonesia.
As of March 2022, under the City Climate Finance Gap Fund the EIB and GIZ have approved support for 22 municipalities located in Latin America, North and sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, Eastern and South-eastern Europe. Those projects include greening roofs, improving the management of stormwater systems, generating biogas from organic waste, developing urban forestry and designing safe and climate friendly streets.
Background information
About the EIB
Over the last ten years, the EIB has invested more than €70 billion beyond the European Union.
Launched in January 2022, EIB Global is the EIB Group’s new specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance. EIB Global is designed to foster strong, focused partnership within Team Europe, alongside fellow development finance institutions and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to local people, companies and institutions through our offices across the world.
About GIZ
As a service provider with worldwide operations in the fields of international cooperation for sustainable development and international education work, GIZ works with its partners to develop effective solutions that offer people better prospects and sustainably improve their living conditions. GIZ is a public-benefit federal enterprise and supports the German government and a host of public and private sector clients in a wide variety of areas, including economic development and employment promotion, energy and the environment, and peace and security.
