IRF’s input to the EIB’s Roadmap 2021-2025

July 1, 2020
|In IRF News
|By Mao Macatangay

In November 2019, the EIB’s Board of Directors approved a new level of ambition for the EIB towards climate action and environmental sustainability.The EIB now needs to turn this ambition into reality and is consulting key stakeholders to accompany it in developing its “Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025” – that will guide this transition.Speaking on behalf of the road sector, IRF was able to share its views and outline key priorities for the sector at a public consultation hosted on-line on 25th June.

Opening up the event, Mrs Emma Navarro, EIB Vice-President stressed that 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.

Building on this, the EIB Group now needs to turn this ambition into reality across all of its activities and is hence working on a “Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025” – that will guide this transition. This roadmap will provide 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. “We are ready to make hard decisions” said Mrs Emma Navarro concluding her introductory remarks.

Represented by its Director General, Mrs Susanna Zammataro, IRF stressed that the attention should be on how to build a truly safe, sustainable and efficient multi-modal system. In doing so it is important to:

  1. Look at the strategic nature of the project. Traditional cost-benefits analysis are not good enough.
  2. Invest in strengthening the resilience of the network. This means ensuring proper investments for upgrading and maintaining current assets.
  3. Foster digitalisation in order to ensure a more sustainable resources’ usage.
  4. Encourage innovation not just in techniques and materials but also on the way infrastructure is used.
  5. Invest in capacity building: we can adequately respond to challenges only if we have skilled personnel.

Engagement on the Climate Bank Roadmap 2021-2025 will complement 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 2020.

Contact IRF Secretariat info@irfnet.ch to learn more and to get involved.