Spain was the second country in the European Union to receive the most funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) in 2019, with 8.96 billion euros for 92 projects. This was 6% more than the previous year, the entity’s Vice President, Emma Navarro, explained on Monday during the presentation of the EIB’s results in Spain.
This amount represents 12.4% of all funding granted by this institution, while it accounts for about 0.7% of the country’s GDP.
Futhermore, 31% of the financing from the bank was earmarked for projects related to the fight against climate change. This percentage is part of the EIB’s objective to allocate 50% of the value of its loans to sustainable initiatives in 2024. The organisation’s goal is to mobilize 1 billion euros by the end of this decade in activities which help achieve the objectives set out in the Paris Agreement.
In Spain’s case, the EIB allocated €2.24 billion euros for the fight against climate change, 75% more than the previous year. This makes Spain the second country in Europe in terms of climate financing, as part of the aforementioned climate goal.
One operation was the 900 million euros investment from Renfe for the acquisition of 242 new electric commuter trains. With greater capacity and a better performance, they will provide services along the Cantabrian coast.
Other significant transactions in this category were the digitalization of electricity networks, providing them with greater connectivity and improving the quality of supply in Spain, via a 440 million euros loan to Iberdrola.
The main sectors involved in the fight against climate change were the adaptation to climate change (22 million euros), renewable energy (459 million), R&D (83 million), energy efficiency (251 million), low transport emissions (1.309 billion) and other climate action measures (115 million).
In 2019, the EIB allocated financing for projects in the EU28 valued at €63.4 billion. In addition, €8.80 billion was granted to neighbouring Eastern european and Mediterranean countries, as well as to Asian and African countries. In the previous year, the bank allocated a total of €72.2 billion euros, estimating this funding supported other investments worth €280 billion.
