In 2022, the European Investment Bank Group signed a record amount of new financing for renewables, efficiency, storage, and grids, demonstrating the EU bank’s unwavering commitment to ensuring access to affordable energy in the face of extreme uncertainty. In addition, total EIB financing signed for sustainable energy projects within the European Union reached an all-time high of €17.06 billion as the Bank began implementing a unique package of support for the REPowerEU plan to reduce reliance on Russian fuel imports.
Overall, the EIB Group (European Investment Bank and European Investment Fund) signed €72.5 billion in financing last year, which is expected to support around €260 billion in investment and create 950 000 jobs by 2026. Moreover, almost half of EIB lending in the European Union (46%) was signed for projects in cohesion regions, demonstrating the Bank’s commitment to equitable growth and convergence throughout the EU.
The EIB provided immediate assistance to Ukraine following the outbreak of the conflict, disbursing €1.7 billion in funds last year to help finance emergency repairs to the country’s infrastructure that had been ravaged by Russian bombing. The Bank remains committed to expanding its operations in Ukraine in accordance with the mandate granted by EU leaders and in close collaboration with the European Commission, the European Parliament, and international partners.
EIB Global signed €9.1 billion in new financing in 2022, bringing the total operations of the EIB arm for global partnerships launched a year ago to €10.8 billion.
The EIB’s green financing increased significantly again, reaching €36.5 billion (58% of the total), indicating that the Bank met its commitment to devote at least half of its resources to climate action and environmental sustainability well ahead of its 2025 target. Overall, the EIB Group is on track to support €1 trillion in green financing this decade, having already endorsed €222 billion in investment over the last two years.
In 2022, the EIF committed more than €9 billion to small businesses and climate and infrastructure projects and is expected to mobilise approximately €97 billion in investment to support an inclusive transition to climate neutrality, digital transformation of European industries, and EU entrepreneur competitiveness. About one-third of the amount signed was earmarked for sustainability and green transformation, while 27% was invested in smaller businesses engaged in innovation and digitalisation.
In the face of a bleak economic outlook for 2023, the EIF intends to press ahead with the multi-thematic InvestEU programme, supplementing it with new initiatives such as the European Tech Champions Initiative, which is set to launch in the coming weeks to support home-grown innovation. EIF equity investments in green industries will help the REPowerEU plan to reduce reliance on fossil fuel imports.
When the pandemic struck, the EIB Group set out to provide as much financing as possible to European businesses as soon as possible. With the support of 22 Member States, the EIB Group established the European Guarantee Fund (EGF), which has signed €20.9 billion in loans, guarantees, equity, and quasi-equity financing in less than two years. The funds would allow small and medium-sized businesses to weather the pandemic and grow out of it. All EGF financing signed is expected to generate €183.5 billion in investment for European economies.
“We delivered on our promises, we exceeded our targets, we put our money where our mouth is,” EIB President Werner Hoyer said at the release of the Group’s annual results in Brussels. “The EU bank is deploying the full scale of its financial firepower to cushion the economic fallout from Putin’s unjustified aggression and lay the foundations for a sustainable recovery.”
