EIB unveils €1.5bn financing for vaccines, clean energy, water projects
The European Investment Bank has approved €1.5 billion of new financing to strengthen support for global distribution of COVID-19 vaccines through the Covax initiative, improve green energy generation and distribution, bring investment to cities, health, education, and water, and enhance access to finance by business.
Of the total, €200 million will be used to increase Team Europe support for COVAX and scale up access to COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Advance Market Commitment mechanism.
Some €533 million was agreed for high-impact investment to enable 1.5 million people across Africa to access clean energy and provide 55,000 solar home systems in cooperation with the German government. The EIB also agreed to support new energy investment in Italy and central Europe that will better integrate renewable energy into national transmission networks and accelerate the roll-out of smart meters.
Access to finance by businesses around the Baltic will be boosted by €250 million EIB financing. The EIB has agreed to support a new streamlined business financing initiative to back investment in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden.
The EIB financing also includes €302 million support for the construction and renovation of 22 schools, day-care centres and sports facilities in the city of Espoo, and support for rehabilitation and expansion of the Lapland Central Hospital in Finland. The EIB also approved support for small scale clean transport, education, culture, social care and environmental schemes in the region of Presov in Slovakia, building on the EU Bank’s long-standing cooperation with local partners. And €250 million will be used to boost investment by local integrated water utilities in the northern Italian region of Lombardy.
