·       EIB and WWF set for financing initiative.

·       Bank deepens cooperation with European Environment Agency.

·       Findings to be released from EIB-backed survey of public development banks’ support for green transition in Latin America and Caribbean.

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The European Investment Bank (EIB) will announce a series of steps to bolster global environmental protection during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference in Cali, Colombia from 21 October to 1 November 2024. 

At the event, which marks the 16th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP16), the EIB will publish an agreement with WWF on developing natural ways to protect biodiversity and enhance climate resilience. In addition, the EIB and the European Environment Agency are strengthening cooperation to support environmental sustainability and climate action. Furthermore, in partnership with the Association of Public Development Banks of Latin America and the Caribbean (ALIDE), the EIB will release the findings of a survey on the role of public development banks in supporting the two regions’ green transition.

“The role of finance will be front and centre of the COP16 discussions on how to meet the world’s goals in supporting biodiversity,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “We must act with urgency to reduce financial flows to activities that harm nature and scale up financing to projects that have a positive impact on the environment. Doing so is central to overcoming the triple planetary crisis of climate change, pollution and biodiversity loss. The EIB is working closely with countries, the European Commission, fellow multilateral development banks, national promotional banks and the private sector to scale up nature-positive finance.”

EIB at COP16

The EIB delegation will be led by Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. For interview requests with members of the EIB delegation, please get in touch with the press contact below. Find out more about the EIB at the United Nations Biodiversity Conference here.

On 28 October, Vice-President Fayolle will address the COP16 plenary to speak about unlocking opportunities to align and enhance responses to nature-related risks. On 30 October representatives from multilateral development banks will discuss progress on the joint MDB statement on supporting nature, people and the planet. A special focus will be MDBs’ role in defining and tracking nature finance as outlined in the MDB Common Principles for Tracking Nature Positive Finance that were announced at the United Nations Climate Conference COP28 in Dubai.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It is active in more than 160 countries and makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

EIB Global is the EIB Group’s specialised arm dedicated to increasing the impact of international partnerships and development finance.  EIB Global is designed to foster strong, focused partnership within Team Europe, alongside fellow development finance institutions, and civil society. EIB Global brings the Group closer to local people, companies and institutions through our offices across the world. 

The EIB has been providing economic support for projects in Latin America since 1993, facilitating long-term investment with favourable conditions and providing the technical support needed to ensure that these projects deliver positive social, economic and environmental results. Since the EIB began operating in Latin America, it has provided total financing of around €14 billion to support more than 160 projects in 15 countries in the region.