Nadia Calviño, president of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group, presented the 2024 annual results at a press conference in Brussels on 30 January, 2025.

Good morning,

Welcome to the presentation of the EIB Group 2024 results.

As you know, 2024 was also my first year as President of the EIB Group.

I am really proud to report today on the excellent performance of the institution, which can be summarised with three Rs:

  • Record figures in green finance, energy, higher risk investments, and support to cohesion regions. We also doubled financing for Security and Defence.
  •  In parallel, we have been getting ready to support Europe’s policies and priorities in this new political mandate by increasing our efficiency and our focus on impact.
  • And thirdly the EIB Group has become more relevant than ever as a financial arm of the European Union, a key actor really at the centre of all strategic discussions, in Europe and globally.

There is a strong momentum and a strong determination to boost Europe’s competitiveness and security – to ensure at the end of the day that we master our own destiny.

And the EIB Group is playing its part with a proactive and ambitious approach in two areas: fostering market integration and mobilising investment.

So, record, ready and relevant. Those three words can summarise our 2024 results.

Let me get now into some details.

Record

We invested €89 billion euros in 2024, 90% of it inside the European Union, around 10% outside the EU, and with more than €14 billion invested through the European Investment Fund, which as you know is our subsidiary specialising in support to SMEs and startups through equity and guarantees.

Our preliminary figures show that we have achieved this while remaining profitable and with a robust triple-A rating, which allows us to leverage our capital and mobilise public and private investments in each and every EU country and across the world.

Our number one priority has been and is consolidating our role as the climate bank. We have all seen the growing cost of climate change – reflected in catastrophic events, like the ones recently suffered by my own country – and we have also seen that the returns of investment in this area are also increasing.

Every euro invested in prevention and adaptation saves €5 to €7 in reconstruction and repairs.

That is why the green transition has moved to a new phase: building on statements and targets, the process is now led by new technologies and business cases.

Climate and competitiveness are a winning tandem for Europe. And it is a no-brainer really that Europe needs to invest more in energy security to support the key sectors driving the green transition and supporting our most promising innovators developing the solutions of tomorrow.

That is why I am proud to report that, for the first time, almost 60% of total Group operations during 2024 were devoted to supporting the green transition: that’s climate action, resilience and adaptation, as well as our energy security.

Actually, as I already mentioned in my introductory words, during 2024 the EIB Group made record investments in energy.

Through our support for infrastructure, grids and interconnectors, the deployment of renewables, innovative technologies, such as green hydrogen, energy efficiency and storage, we estimate that our financing mobilised over €100 billion of additional investment for energy last year.

One of the novelties of 2024 was the launch of the wind package, where we provide cross guarantees that make possible the deployment of wind power parks in Europe. This mechanism, which can be a blueprint for further investments in clean industry, demonstrates the unique ability of the EIB Group to crowd-in private capital for projects that make a difference.

We’re talking about the decarbonisation of our industries, lower energy bills for our households and cheaper energy for our businesses, which are essential features for Europe's competitiveness and security.

During 2024 we also stepped up our support for Europe’s security and defence industry, doubling annual investment to €1 billion.

Last year, as you know, we significantly extended eligible investments in dual-use projects and technologies, to include border protection, military mobility, critical infrastructures, de-mining and de-contamination, space, cybersecurity, anti-jamming technologies, military equipment and facilities, like drones, seabed infrastructure protection, and, of course, research.  

In December, the European Investment Fund signed the first deals under the new Defence Equity Facility with two venture capital funds, and the Bank, the European Investment Bank, launched in partnership with local banks throughout the EU, a new tailored programme for small and medium-sized companies across the security and defence supply chain.

We are currently conducting the market test to assess whether further changes to our eligibility rules are needed. We also signed new agreements with the NATO Innovation Fund and the European Defence Agency that will help us find suitable projects at European level and increase our impact. 

Let me already signal that we plan to again double investment in Security and Defence in 2025, bringing it to a €2 billion record high.

And I can also share with you that we are already looking closely at a pipeline of 14 concrete projects expected for approval in the coming months. These projects will be in areas such as aerospace, cybersecurity and quantum technologies, as well as civil protection.

Two final records to highlight from 2024:

Last year the EIB Group hit a record in higher-risk operations, with €8 billion invested in equity and quasi-equity to mobilise €110 billion to support Europe’s innovators.

We’re talking about health-tech, advanced therapies against cancer and microbial resistance, green tech, deep tech, developing new materials for housing and industry.

Much of this is channelled through the European Investment Fund, that I already referred to.

Actually, during 2024, the Fund also made great progress in the development and deployment of the European Tech Champions Initiative.

As you probably know, this initiative was launched barely two years ago and it has already invested in eight scale-up funds, financing 18 innovative startup companies to grow their business. We expect that the €3 billion that have been initially allocated to this initiative will be fully invested in the course of the current year, in 2025. That's barely two years after the launch of the initiative.

Last record, the EIB Group signed €38 billion euros for projects in cohesion and transition regions, bringing opportunity where talent is in each and every region of the EU.

Behind these impressive figures, there are projects that make a difference.

Let me share with you a snapshot of some of the flagship operations the EIB Group signed last year in the EU:  

Just to mention a few of the flagship investments in 2024.  

Global

Now moving beyond our borders, around 10% of our investments are outside the EU, contributing to a stronger Europe in a more peaceful, more stable, more prosperous and sustainable world.

In full alignment with Europe's policies and priorities, we have contributed last year to reinforcing Europe's strategic alliances and partnerships, with a strong focus in our neighbourhood. 

Our top priority was and continues to be support to Ukraine, with more than €2.2 billion already disbursed since the start of the war and more to come.

Let me give you a sense of the impact of some of the investments that we made there last year: 

But besides Ukraine, we signed 128 projects last year outside the EU:  

  • In the Western Balkans, new railways in Montenegro
  • Financing for the main water conveyor between Aqaba and Amman in Jordan
  • Primary health investments and clean cooking devices across Africa
  • The urban rail in Bangalore – that's one of the 6 Indian cities where we support transport
  • In Barbados, the first-ever debt for climate conversion for water infrastructures 
  • We supported the delivery of over 650 million doses of polio vaccines to children around the world
  • We financed the energy interconnector between Ecuador and Peru to help expand and improve the reliability of electricity supply.
  • In Cambodia we are supporting sustainable agriculture
  • In Kiribati in the Pacific, we are working with partners to build a new seaport. This is a small island state at the forefront of climate change.
  • Just yesterday we were meeting in Luxembourg the prime minister of Bhutan that was signalling the very important projects that we are also financing in this country

So, a very important year for us in terms of operations outside the EU, also.

Ready 

As I said, during 2024, we have also geared up the institution, so as to be ready for the new mandate.

In my first year as president of the EIB Group, I visited the 27 Member States, engaging with governments, local authorities, businesses, listening to citizens and civil partners, to know what they were expecting from the EIB and what they are expecting from Europe.

This active engagement helped us to frame our Strategic Roadmap, built around 8 core priorities endorsed by the EU member states, our shareholders.

And we are on track to raise in the spring the outdated limit on the EIB Group’s investments, also supported by our shareholders.

We have also made good progress in simplification and reduction of red tape, so that 40% of all projects now go through a simplified process, which involves much lower procedural burden and a shorter time to market.

We have also improved our governance – promoting transparency, accountability, integrity and wellbeing in the workplace.

This week we published the call for candidates for an EIB Ombudsperson, one of the measures we had agreed with our staff representatives to set in motion to improve the working environment at the EIB Group.

Relevant

Breaking records, getting ready and becoming even more relevant.

Building on our very strong performance in 2024, we have all hands on deck to deliver an ambitious €95 billion investment target in 2025.

We are mobilising public and private financing with two key words in mind: competitiveness and security, which I have already mentioned throughout my presentation.

During 2025 we will roll out initiatives aligned with the strategic priorities of the new European Commission, including:

  • The 60% green finance target
  • Boosting support to leading technologies, including clean-tech, artificial intelligence, chips, high-performance and quantum computing, health sciences, and Europe's cutting-edge industrial capacity

Europe is a trade and innovation powerhouse. We are second to none when it comes to research facilities and universities. We have a vibrant ecosystem of startups. So with the right financing – at the right time – and a more integrated market, we can help ensure that this talent is scaled up, that innovation is scaled up and that companies that are born in the EU can remain, grow and prosper also in Europe.

That is why we are working together with the European Commission and the Member States on instruments to finance the whole cycle of businesses and innovation: from nurturing startups, helping them grow, to an “exit platform” to facilitate the listing of European companies in European markets or the acquisition of these successful companies by other European companies.

This capital markets union workstream includes the extension of the highly successful European Tech Champions Initiative that I already mentioned, which will complete its investments, its initial capital allocation, in 2025, as part of a broader goal to boost higher risk investments through equity and quasi-equity – that's venture debt investment – to scale up Europe’s innovative companies.

  • We expect to further double annual investments in the EU’s security and defence industry to a record €2 billion euros
  • We also expect investments in critical raw materials to double in the coming years
  • Building on the €3 billion facility to support agriculture and the broader economy, we are also exploring support for a pan-European insurance mechanism and other de-risking schemes
  • We are also working on a €2.5 billion programme to scale up energy efficiency for Europe's small and medium-sized companies so they can lower their CO2 emissions and electricity bills
  • We are working on a dedicated water programme of around €4.5 billion to focus investment in flood resilience and to address water scarcity and the intensifying droughts in Europe
  • We are working with the European Commission on a pan-European investment platform for affordable and sustainable housing
  • And we are, of course, focusing our strategies outside the EU to reinforce our alliances and partnerships around the world with a revamped strategy for EIB Global, in line with Europe's priorities and, as I was saying, a sharpened focus on impact

Relevant

Let me close in a nutshell to indicate that the EIB Group is ready to play an even more relevant role in 2025, contributing to the integration of our markets – from energy to telecoms and capital – and mobilising investment.

We are a capital markets union instrument, issuing bonds under a European signature to channel savings into pan-European investments responding to common priorities.

Therefore, we have been engaging since day one with the new European Commission to support its initiatives, from the Competitiveness Compass that was published just this week to the forthcoming omnibus bill that aims to simplify and streamline EU rules and regulations.

Especially when it comes to rules and regulations and reporting requirements, we need to make sure that our regulatory framework incentivises green investments and makes the green transition a European success.

We have every reason to be confident. I am.

This was very much the message sent yesterday by Presidents von der Leyen and Costa.

Our unity is our strength.

And the EIB Group, which is a true success story of European unity, will continue to finance projects that make a difference on the ground – for our citizens, our businesses, for a stronger Europe in a more prosperous, more sustainable, more peaceful world.

Thank you very much.