Irish Regions Office Website

February 18, 2009

Financing green transport

Credit to SMEs isn't the only area where the EIB has been busy of late - the bank has also been active in prioritising energy efficiency projects. Last year, it lent more than EUR10 billion to the energy sector, with more than 20% going to renewable energy projects.

An additional EUR2.6 billion was granted for urban public transport system and a conference in Brussels on 11 February heard that the EIB intends to pursue this approach using green public procurement rules as a lever, while strongly promoting new technologies like hydrogen or hybrid buses in urban contexts. Funding will go to projects that can demonstrate their ability to deliver on the EU's so-called '20-20-20' policy of reducing greenhouse gases by 20% by 2020, and meeting 20% of its energy needs with renewables by the same date.

In advance of unveiling a fully-fledged financing facility to help cities and transport providers improve their energy efficiency and buy cleaner bus fleets, the EIB is currently working with the European Commission to set up an initial EUR15 million fund to offer "technical assistance" in developing more elaborate projects of a much greater scale. The facility has not yet been officially approved, but this is expected imminently. It is envisaged that up to 75% of costs could be financed.

These ambitions tie in with December's EU Economic Recovery Plan where, amongst other things, some EUR4 billion was made available to help Europe's motor manufacturers to make cleaner vehicles. EIB support for investment in energy-efficient buildings has also been forthcoming to a number of cities and regions recently and the bank is set to increase its financing for climate change and energy infrastructure by as much as EUR6 billion per year, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will double its efforts in energy efficiency, climate change and financing for municipalities.

http://www.eib.org/about/press/2009/2009-020-eib-to-support-europes-cities-and-regions-in-promoting-energy-efficiency.htm

Posted by iroronan at February 18, 2009 11:02 PM