At the COP28 climate change conference, EIB Global, the development arm of the European Investment Bank (EIB), presented its new approach to increase financing and advisory services in support of a just transition and just resilience worldwide. The EIB will be the first international financial institution to apply a just resilience approach from the start of 2024. Building on its considerable work in the European Union, in support of communities impacted by decarbonization efforts, EIB Global has also announced it is expanding its just transition support worldwide.
EIB Global will work with public and private partners to identify opportunities and address challenges related to a just transition and just resilience. EIB Global backs projects through direct as well as intermediated lending through funds, banks, and microfinance institutions. In addition, EIB Global is seeking to build financial, technical, and knowledge partnerships to help prepare just transition and just resilience projects worldwide.
See also: Unveiling COP28: A critical meeting to address climate change
“Decarbonising our economies and making them climate resilient must happen in a socially responsible way or it will not happen and we will not manage to meet the urgent goals we have set ourselves,” EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle said. “Under the new EIB Global approach for just transition and just resilience, we will be directing more support, through Team Europe initiatives, to those countries and people who are most acutely impacted by the climate crisis and are most impacted by climate policies. I call on our partners to join us in this crucial endeavor to back sustainable investment projects that leave no one behind.”
Pioneering just resilience
Just Resilience aims to ensure that climate adaptation policies and projects take into account the needs of everybody to avoid unintended impacts. Increasing climate resilience and ensuring just climate adaptation policies are urgently needed as rising temperatures are increasing geographical and social inequalities with devastating consequences.
From 2024 onwards, EIB Global will focus its resilience support on least developed countries, fragile and conflict-affected states, and small island developing states. Moreover, EIB Global will target climate adaptation actions involving or benefitting those depending on natural resources and ecosystems for their livelihoods, including indigenous people, women and non-binary, young people, migrants, and other groups bearing unequal climate change burdens across the globe. EIB Global will take a more integrated approach to climate adaptation and social inclusion and combine related metrics.
A just transition that leaves no one behind
In the European Union, the EIB has for a long time been supporting communities impacted by the shift to a net zero future. EIB Global is building on this experience and is extending its transition activities in regions most affected by decarbonization efforts and where there is an intention to shift to more sustainable economies.
EIB Global will initially focus its transition activities on nine pilot countries: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Ukraine, South Africa, Indonesia, and Vietnam. It will support workers affected by the green transition, support projects in low-carbon infrastructure, energy efficiency, renewable energy, the development of small and mid-sized companies, education, training, and retraining, as well as environmental rehabilitation.
In doing so, EIB Global is supporting Just Energy Transition Partnerships and is working alongside Team Europe Initiatives to end coal-based energy production. Beyond the pilot countries, EIB Global will assist workers and communities affected by the closure of fossil fuel plants or activities involving fossil fuel extraction. EIB Global is prioritizing the regeneration and decontamination of sites, land rehabilitation ecosystem restoration, and green infrastructure.
