BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 2
By Leman Zeynalova – Trend:
Over the last five years (2016-2020) out of a total investment of the European Investment Bank (EIB) in energy projects of around EUR 60 billion, 20.7 EUR billion or 34.6 percent went to renewable energy projects, EIB told Trend.
The Bank said the majority of EIB lending is attributed to projects in EU Member States (about 90 percent of the total volume) supporting the continued development and integration of the Union.
In the case of energy projects, lending to non-EU countries amounted to EUR 10.9 billion or 18.3 percent of total energy-related lending in the last 5 years.
In 2019, the EIB Board of Directors approved the Energy Lending Policy and in 2020 the EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap. In adopting these policies, EIB’s activities in the energy sector are fully aligned with the Paris Agreement. There are five principles of the EIB’s engagement in the energy sector to support the energy transition:
1) prioritising energy efficiency with a view to supporting the EU target under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive
2) enabling energy decarbonisation through increased support for low or zero carbon technology, aiming to meet a 32% renewable energy share throughout the EU by 2030
3) supporting innovation and new energy infrastructure such as decentralised energy production, battery storage and demand response systems
4) ensuring electricity grid investment essential for new, intermittent energy sources like wind and solar as well as strengthening cross-border interconnections
5) increasing the impact of investment to support energy transformation outside the EU.
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