European Investment Bank in Sh11tr climate financing

NAIROBI: Kenya could benefit from a new line of funding from the the European Investment Bank (EIB), the world’s largest lender for climate related projects. EIB announced it will increase the proportion of its lending in support of climate related investment in developing countries from 25 per cent to 35 per cent.

Speaking at a meeting of finance ministers and multilateral financial institutions at the IMF - World Bank annual meetings in Lima, EIB President Werner Hoyer confirmed that the lender will increase climate lending in countries identified by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) as being especially vulnerable to the adverse impacts of climate change.

“The EU Bank will provide well over $110 billion (Sh11.33 trillion) for climate action projects around the world over the next five years. We must do all we can to unlock new investment in countries especially vulnerable to climate change, including those with low-lying coastal areas and regions exposed to desertification, drought, and flooding,” said Hoyer.

EIB set a minimum of 25 per cent of all lending in support of climate. “Our new climate strategy focuses on enhancing the impact of climate funding, increasing financing for adaptation to climate change, unlocking new support from private capital, and ensuring that every project we help finance minimises emissions and is as resilient as possible to climatic uncertainties,” added Hoyer.

The Lima meeting provided an opportunity for governments and institutions involved in international climate finance to identify opportunities for scaling-up their efforts in the run up to COP 21 meeting in Paris at the end of the year. In 2014, EIB provided loans totalling $25.4 billion (Sh2.6 trillion) for initiatives directly beneficial to climate change mitigation or adaptation across Europe and around the world.