Energy / /
The EIB spells out its commitment to green finance in ‘The Dialogues of Garrigues Sustainable’
This first ‘webinar’, dedicated to sustainable finance, addressed the requirements of the European Union and the EIB in matters of green bonds and loans
The commitment of the European Investment Bank (EIB) to sustainability is clear and growing. The institution has decided to increase its commitment to sustainable or “green” finance, currently at 25%, with a view to enabling it to reach 50% by 2025.
The foregoing statement was made by María Serrano, head of Energy Financing in Spain, of the EIB, during the first edition of The Dialogues of Garrigues Sostenible, a cycle of webinars in which the firm’s professionals invite one guest on each occasion, with whom to discuss key aspects related to ESG in the life of a company.
On this occasion, matters related to the requirements of the European Union and the EIB for green bonds and loans were discussed by the EIB expert with Sofía Lazcano, the partner in charge of G-advisory, and Gaspar Atienza, partner of the Corporate/Commercial Law Department of Garrigues.
As María Serrano pointed out, the EIB has been working on green loans for some time now and has years of experience on the matter. Its concern for sustainable finance had already begun in 2007, as did its effort to channel resources from other financiers with issues of green bonds. More recently there have been two fundamental milestones. The first was in 2019, when the energy lending policy was approved, setting the course to be taken with respect to the principles and commitments of the Paris Agreement and laying the foundation for energy financing that is very in line with those principles. The second took place last year with the approval of the Climate Bank roadmap, which provides a framework for bringing all economic industries, not only the energy industry, into line with the commitments already made in the energy lending policy. The goal is to channel resources from the private sector, mobilizing one billion investments in the critical decade (2021 – 2030), and also to increase the commitment to sustainable or green finance, currently at 25%, with a view to enabling it to reach 50% by 2025, as explained by the expert.
María Serrano thinks the EIB is on the right track. “The evaluation is, I believe, positive, but should not be conformist: much remains to be done and the main challenge will be to attract private finance”, she emphasized, adding that the investment needs, if the Paris targets are to be achieved, are very ambitious: “It is true that we have many available resources, but they are not going to be sufficient, and the challenge will be to get the private sector to join this effort in sustainable finance”.