Stakeholder engagement on the EIB Group’s Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025: Turning ambition into reality

In November 2019, the EIB’s Board of Directors demonstrated the EIB’s commitment to support the energy transition by adopting the new energy lending policy (ELP), which phases out EIB support to energy projects reliant on unabated fossil fuel by the end of 2021.

At the same Board meeting, the EIB’s Board of Directors also approved a new level of ambition for the EIB Group towards climate action and environmental sustainability. The three elements of this ambition are to:

1. increase the share of EIB’s financing dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability to reach 50% by 2025;
2. help unlock at least €1 trillion of investments dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability from public and private partners by 2030; and
3. align all financing activities with the principles and goals of the Paris Agreement by the end of 2020.

This was further complemented by our commitment to support a just transition.

Building on this, the EIB Group needed to turn this ambition into reality across all of its activities. It called on interested stakeholders to accompany it in developing its roadmap – the “Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025” – that will guide this transition. This roadmap provides a detailed strategic and operational framework for its activities on climate action and environmental sustainability over the first five years of its commitment, i.e. 2021-2025.

Building on previous engagement with stakeholders

The 2020 Seminar between the EIB’s Board of Directors and civil society took place in Luxembourg on 4 February 2020 and focused on the EIB’s role, as the EU Climate Bank, in supporting the European Green Deal and addressing the critical decade ahead for climate change. During the Seminar, the EIB Group announced the launch of the stakeholder engagement on its future “Climate Bank Roadmap” for the next five years (2021-2025).

The EIB Group engaged on the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025. This engagement built upon two previous, fruitful consultations with stakeholders on policy documents: one in 2015 on the Climate Strategy, and another in 2019 on the ELP. Although agreed before the Paris Agreement, the EIB Climate Strategy already commits the Bank, in spirit, to update its lending policies in line with the most recent scientific knowledge and EU policy.^[1] Many of the responses received through the ELP consultation also addressed the wider issue of “Paris alignment.”^[2]

Furthermore, engagement on the EIB Group’s Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 built on the technical exchange on climate action at the EIB that the Bank organised on 25 October 2019. This workshop offered an informal opportunity for stakeholders to share their views on the EIB’s increased ambition on climate action and environmental sustainability, the implications of being the EU’s Climate Bank and the key elements for aligning EIB’s financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement.

Contributing to the overall sustainability framework of the EIB Group

The Climate Bank Roadmap determines how the EIB Group will implement the new ambition over the period 2021 to 2025. The scope of this ambition is broad – touching upon the climate, environmental and social aspects underpinning sustainable development. Engagement on the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 complements future public consultations, including most immediately the EIB transport lending policy and the EIB Environmental and Social Statement and the related Standards, which are due to start in 2021.

[1] For more details on the 2015 Climate Strategy consultation, please see the associated stakeholder Issues Matrix.
[2] For more details on the 2019 ELP consultation, please see the associated stakeholder Issues Matrix.

The development of the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 was an iterative process.

To supplement the original guiding questions, and to guide the discussions during the second series of webinars on 25 June, the EIB Group prepared a position paper outlining the EIB Group’s emerging position on the risks and opportunities in two key areas. This position paper included a second set of more specific questions (see below).

• Comments received by 24 April 2020  informed the EIB’s internal discussions and the above mentioned position paper that was discussed during the second stakeholder webinars on 25 June 2020;   
• Contributions received between 25 April 2020 and 9 July 2020, on either questionnaires, informed the final stages of the internal discussions, before the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 was submitted to the EIB’s governing bodies.

The EIB Group acknowledged receipt, but did not provide individualised feedback. An engagement report summarizing the process and the main elements of the feedback received from stakeholders was prepared and published in the fourth quarter of 2020 (available in the “Outcome” tab).

All contributions were considered as public and posted on this website (see “Stakeholder contributions” tab).

When submitting their contributions online via SmartSurvey or via email to cbr2025@eib.org, contributors could request the EIB not to publish their personal information (i.e. first name, surname, function and email address) that was included in the "About you" section of the SmartSurvey or in the header and signature of their emails. Contributors remain responsible for any information in their contributions that may enable their identification.

Supplementary Questions (15 June 2020)

To structure the second round of this stakeholder engagement, and to complement the guiding questions below, a second set of more specific questions could be completed directly online, via a SmartSurvey.

Alternatively, the completed Word version of the questionnaire could be emailed to cbr2025@eib.org

Guiding Questions (6 March 2020)

To structure this engagement opportunity, the EIB developed some guiding questions that highlighted the crucial issues on which the EIB would have liked your feedback.

The questions could be completed directly online, via a SmartSurvey.

Alternatively, the completed Word version of the questionnaire could be emailed to cbr2025@eib.org.

SmartSurvey available in Word or PDF

A second series of engagement webinars was organised on Thursday 25 June 2020. They provided an opportunity for the EIB Group to present progress made and the direction the EIB Group was taking in the various areas of work. More information can be found here.

Please find hereafter the slides for the event:

Session 1: Alignment of new projects with the low greenhouse gas emissions goals of the Paris Agreement and tracking progress against climate and environment targets

• Part 1: Transport - Summary of discussions
• Part 2: Buildings  - Summary of discussions

Session 2: Alignment of new projects with the low greenhouse gas emissions goals of the Paris Agreement and tracking progress against climate and environment targets

• Part 1: Energy Intensive Industry  - Summary of discussions
• Part 2: Bioeconomy & land use  - Summary of discussions

Session 3: Building greater resilience to future climate change

• Resilience  - Summary of discussions

First Round of Stakeholder Engagement

A first series of webinars took place on 23 and 26 March 2020. These webinars offered an opportunity for a direct exchange between interested stakeholders and the EIB Group. The programmes, presentations, and summary of discussions of the four sessions can be found hereafter.

For more information on the March events, please click here. 

• Webinar 1 - Paris alignment: Programme - Presentation - Summary of discussions 
• Webinar 2 - Sustainable finance: Programme - Presentation - Summary of discussions
• Webinar 3 - Impact measurement: Programme - Presentation - Summary of discussions

• Webinar 4 - Increasing environmental sustainability investments and leaving no one behind: Programme - Presentation - Summary of discussions

The list of contributions received can be found in the overview table below. The list is organised in alphabetical order (of organisation/surname of individuals).

Overview of stakeholder contributions received

Once you have identified the contribution that you may wish to look at, please take a note of the corresponding contribution number.  You can then access the contribution by downloading the relevant contribution from the folder below.

Download contributions [File size: 44 MB]

An engagement report summarizing the process and the main elements of the feedback received from stakeholders was prepared and published during the fourth quarter 2020 (available in the “Outcome” tab).

The EIB received 222 written contributions from organisations or individuals. Feedback and suggestions were rich and diverse. A petition was also received signed by almost 14,000 people in total.

A summary of these contributions can be found in the engagement report, which also provides an overview of the engagement process. It presents a detailed overview of the feedback received on the original guiding questions as well as the supplementary questions.

The Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 is now available. It was approved by the EIB’s Board of Director’s on 11 November 2020. 

The draft revised EIB Climate Strategy is available. It has been adjusted to reflect specific Paris Agreement wording the EIB’s 2019 ambitious targets for climate action and environmental sustainability.

The EIB would like to thank all those who contributed for their very valuable contributions to this important process.

Draft reports:

• Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025
• Engagement report