Level of climate finance transparency

The EBRD has provided project level climate finance data in its sustainability report since 2018, this is in PDF format. The release in PDF format makes it difficult to do in depth analysis. The EBRD provides an adequate level of information in its submission to the OECD-DAC (Development Assistance Committee) climate-related development finance database. 

It should be noted that the EBRD has also made the following commitments in terms of reporting on Paris alignment:

“From 2022 [EBRD will conduct …]: internal reporting on alignment based on MDBs Paris Alignment disclosure framework; annual reporting to Board; external reporting in line with first internal progress report.”

The EBRD requires all high-risk ‘Category A’ subprojects financed through a financial intermediary to be reported to the bank. Information on the environmental and social risks of any sub-project referred to the EBRD and the proposed mitigation measures to address project risks must also be publicly disclosed. There is not a disclosure requirement for all subprojects.

Project summary documents for financial institution lending are available on an EBRD portal and provides some details of the finance. Sub-projects are not disclosed on this portal. However, some of the Green Economy Financing Facilities (GEFF) of the EBRD have subproject disclosure on their individual websites. For example, the Western Balkans website has a list (and map) of subprojects financed along with the sector and financing amount. The Turkish Mid-size Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (MidSEFF) also discloses emission reduction of some sub-projects. This is best practice amongst the MDBs. E3G recommends a centralised version of this for all intermediary lending.

The EBRD does conduct TCFD Reporting. This section assesses what level of detail is disclosed within the 2020 TCFD report.

E3G has developed a list of areas under each TCFD category based upon the disclosure of the three MDBs who do TCFD reporting (EBRD, IFC and EIB). This allows a direct comparison between where each MDB is providing greater disclosure compared to their peers in certain areas.

Amongst the MDBs, the EBRD demonstrates best practice in disclosing the metrics and targets it uses for assessing climate risk. The three areas below have only been disclosed by the EBRD, all other MDBs should look to replicate similar analysis for their own portfolios.

• It provides a portfolio-wide summary (by industry sector) of those areas with potential sensitivity to transition and physical climate transition and the share of that industry within its portfolio.
• The EBRD has provided a high level of detail on the exposure to coal within its portfolio. 
• The EBRD also provides detail of a modelling exercise on a “potentially high-risk portfolio of oil and gas exposures” which covered 14 clients, totalling €662 million in exposure. It used scenarios developed by the Network for Greening the Financial System to determine potential balance sheet losses.