European Investment Bank

Founded:

1958

Mission:

"To foster sustainable growth within the EU and abroad"

Total assets:

$553 billion

Headquarters:

Luxembourg

Top five shareholders:

Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands.

This page is part of the E3G Public Bank Climate Tracker Matrix, our tool to help you assess the Paris alignment of public banks, MDBs and DFIs.

Metric	Summary
Promotion of green finance	Transformational – The promotion of green finance is one of the four workstreams of the EIB Climate Bank Roadmap 2021–2025. The EIB was the first institution globally, in 2007, to issue green bonds, and remains the largest issuer among the MDBs. It has been a leader in innovative green bond products and has established initiatives to develop the green bond market globally, such as the Global Green Bond Initiative. The Bank has also actively participated in the development of the EU sustainable finance framework and has developed technical assistance initiatives such as Green Gateway to further drive uptake of green finance, including with financial intermediaries in the EU and for supervisory authorities and central banks in developing countries. The EIB is further developing its use of innovative financial instruments, completed the first ever debt-for-climate resilience conversion in Barbados and implemented the pilot climate-resilient debt clause in 2024. The EIB will continue to develop counter-guarantee schemes.
Fossil to non-fossil energy finance ratio and scaling up climate finance	Paris aligned – Over 2019–22, for every USD 1 the EIB provided to fossil fuels, it invested USD 14.5 in clean energy, USD 3.7 for transmission and distribution, and USD 1.5 for other energy projects (that typically cannot be attributed to any one energy type, such as large nuclear, hydropower, and biomass projects). The EIB phased out unabated fossil fuel financing by the end of 2021, the first MDB to do so. The EIB is a leader among MDBs in terms of climate finance disbursements. Climate action and environmental sustainability (CAES) financing reached 57% of total financing in 2024, surpassing its 2025 target of 50% for climate and sustainability for the fourth year in a row. Cumulatively, the EIB has supported EUR 563 billion of CAES projects since 2021. The EIB is therefore on track to go beyond its self-set goal of EUR 1 trillion in CAES finance by 2030.
Nature based solutions	Some Progress – The EIB has been developing institutional level strategies to scale up nature financing, and mainstream nature considerations and nature based solutions (NBS) across its portfolio. However, it is difficult to assess how this has translated to the EIB’s operations so far as NBS investments are not systematically reported. Biodiversity protection mainstreaming is underway at the EIB. The Biodiversity Risk Assessment system announced in 2020, when implemented in 2024–25, will be the first instrument of its kind among MDBs to assess nature-related impacts, risks and dependencies at asset, counterpart and portfolio level. However, while the EIB promotes food system transformation and climate-smart agriculture in the EU, addressing the climate impact of food production requires a stronger, more comprehensive analysis that considers all aspects of production, not just the emissions related to transport. To become Paris aligned, the EIB should put forward quantitative pledges to reduce deforestation and adopt a zero net deforestation target.
Climate risk, resilience, and adaptation	Some progress – Despite a tenfold increase in absolute amounts of adaptation finance between 2018 and 2023, the EIB has one of the lowest proportions of adaptation finance as a percentage of climate finance across MDBs (11% in 2024). The 15% adaptation finance target by 2025, as outlined in the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021–2025, is significantly lower than that of all other MDBs. This can be partially explained by the EIB’s geographical and sectoral focus in driving the European energy transition, but there is a need to continue to significantly increase adaptation finance. The EIB has implemented excellent and far-reaching procedures to assess and manage climate risk considerations that can be considered Paris aligned into their operations. The EIB systematically screens all projects under the Climate Risk Assessment (CRA) system. The Bank has further implemented a comprehensive risk assessment framework across the institution with tools such as the PATH framework and the Climate Change Risk Scoring Model.
Overarching climate strategy	Transformational – The EIB Climate Bank Roadmap (CBR) 2021–2025 represents a significant step forward in the Bank’s alignment with the Paris Agreement, reflecting best practice among MDBs. The CBR is based on a 1.5 °C scenario and commits the EIB to align all its financing activities with the principles and goals of the Paris Agreement. It also provides concrete actions, such as a target of 50% of overall lending for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025, and the implementation of an ambitious shadow carbon price. Implementation of the Roadmap has been consistent with the Bank’s ambition, having exceeded its climate and environmental sustainability financing target, and phased out fossil fuel financing by the end of 2021.The alignment of the Bank’s activities with the EU Taxonomy is also well underway. Furthermore, the 2023 publication of the EIB Global Strategic Roadmap offers a promising vision for enhanced action by the EIB outside the EU, including through the expansion of technical assistance and advisory services. The impending update of the CBR, to be conducted over 2025, offers a further opportunity for the Bank to strengthen its strategy and commitments, such as by adopting a “do good beyond no harm” principle.
Integration of climate mitigation and resilience in key sectoral strategies	Paris aligned – Mitigation and adaptation considerations are mostly well integrated across the EIB’s sectoral approaches, though progress could be made on energy systems resilience. The 2022 Transport Lending Policy and 2023 Water Sector Orientation set a highly encouraging precedent in terms of integrating the ambitious objectives set by the EIB’s Climate Bank Roadmap (CBR) 2021–2025. For “transformational”, this integration should now be integrated into further sectoral strategies’ reviews.
Institutional leadership	Transformational – The EIB is a leading MDB in its Paris alignment process. It is the only MDB to have fully phased out unabated fossil fuel financing and has established itself as a leader by pioneering transformative green finance initiatives, including comprehensive green bond offerings. The EIB is also prominent within the PDB system, demonstrated by its strong support for initiatives like Finance in Common and its active collaboration with MDB peers. The EIB has also significantly increased its technical assistance and advisory services to both EU and non-EU countries. The EIB should continue to leverage its expertise from EU policy implementation to enhance its global operations and share experiences acquired within the broader PDB system as it expands internationally, notably through EIB Global. The Global Green Bond Initiative may serve as a good practice example.
Energy access and fuel poverty	Some progress – While energy access is stated as a priority within the Energy Lending Policy for activities outside the EU, the EIB has not adopted a formal definition of energy access nor a quantified energy access target. Progress monitoring indicates no consistent improvement across the metrics.
Energy efficiency strategy, standards and investment	Paris aligned – The EIB puts a strong focus on energy efficiency within its operations, backed by robust energy efficiency standards which are applied uniformly across direct and indirect investments. However, the “energy efficiency first” principle needs further operationalisation across sectors, and more clarity is needed on the extent to which the EIB aims to address the necessity to reduce motorised travel through transport demand management measures.
Fossil fuel exclusion policies	Paris aligned – The EIB phased out unabated fossil fuel investments by the end of 2021, with limited exceptions. This makes the EIB the only MDB to have done so, and one of only two PDBs assessed in the Matrix (the other being Agence Française de Développement, AFD). It is furthermore the only MDB to have signed the Glasgow Statement on International Public Support for the Clean Energy Transition, showing strong leadership among its peers. For “transformational”, the EIB should further restrict exceptions and consider introducing a provision to invest in the retirement, replacement and refinancing of high-emitting infrastructure.
Greenhouse gas accounting and reduction	Some progress – The EIB has comprehensive GHG accounting methodology with a relatively low inclusion threshold of 20 ktCO₂e/year of absolute and/or relative emissions, reflecting best practice among the MDBs. The EIB tracks both absolute and relative emissions across all sectors. However, while absolute and relative portfolio emissions (prorated to lending volumes) have been steadily decreasing in recent years, the EIB has not set a clear absolute GHG portfolio-wide emissions target.
Shadow carbon pricing	Transformational – The EIB’s shadow carbon price mechanism represents best practice among peers and set a transformational precedent. It aligns and goes significantly beyond the High-Level Commission on Carbon Prices (HLCCP) recommendation as it is based on a 1.5 °C IPCC scenario, with a price due to increase to EUR 250 by 2030 and EUR 800 by 2050. The mechanism is applied to all projects above the emission threshold of 20 ktCO₂/year (absolute or relative emissions). The shadow carbon price (SCP), used in the Bank’s economic assessments of projects, is one of the main elements of the transition risk framework used at project level. Furthermore, the SCP is periodically reviewed and updated in line with the latest science.
Country level work	Some progess – The EIB does not issue specific public strategies to guide its country level work. Operations within the EU are aligned with the EU’s European Green Deal and its associated policy packages, and therefore the EU Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). The national plans submitted by EU member states serve as the foundation for country level activities. It is unclear whether EIB Global, established in 2022, is planning to develop dedicated country strategies to guide its country level work outside the EU or whether it will continue to rely on EU-wide regional cooperation strategies and partner countries’ NDCs and National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), as it currently does.
Technical assistance for implementing Paris goals	Some progress – The EIB is offering an increasing amount of non-NDC (Nationally Determined Contribution) technical advisory services, including on greening financial systems, adaptation, clean energy, and energy efficiency. However, while the EIB states it will support the development of more ambitious NDCs and has engaged in dialogues with countries in that regard, it does not have a specific NDC support programme.
Transparency of climate finance data	Some progress – While the EIB publishes its climate finance commitments data and provides information to the OECD-DAC climate-related development finance database, the information provided lacks substantive details critical to identifying the quality and scope of the EIB’s investments. This puts EIB behind its MDB peers, ranking seventh for both its sovereign and non-sovereign portfolios on the DFI Transparency Index. In 2022 and 2023, the European Ombudsman raised concerns about the EIB’s transparency practices, particularly regarding the disclosure of its project financing.