NIB President: Financing available for clean-up of the Baltic Sea

“The availability of financing is not the major bottleneck regarding clean-up of the Baltic Sea. The challenge is rather to make Baltic Sea projects bankable. This requires significant work as financiers need concrete projects and identifiable counterparts,” said Johnny Åkerholm, President and CEO of NIB commented today at the Baltic Sea Action Summit in Helsinki.

“We are therefore grateful that Sweden and Finland have contributed to the BSAP Fund, which facilitates this process through the provision of funds for institutional support and project preparation,” he continued in his address to the Heads of States and Governments.

The BSAP Fund is jointly managed by NIB and the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO) and is targeted to support the implementation of the HELCOM Baltic Sea Action Plan (BSAP).

“The provision of environmental lending has been particularly important during the economic crisis. We have realised during the last two years that there has been higher demand for financing renewable energy and energy savings than for Baltic Sea projects. NIB has made financial resources available for both purposes,” Mr Åkerholm said.

“This indicates that financing is a necessary but not sufficient condition for these activities. Bankable projects are crucial and we hope that the presentation of national implementation plans in the HELCOM framework this spring will be a significant step forward.” 

The Nordic Investment Bank is the common international financial institution of the eight Nordic and Baltic countries. NIB provides long-term financing to the energy, environmental, transport, logistics and communications, and innovation sectors for projects that strengthen competitiveness and enhance the environment. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

For further information, please contact

Mr Johnny Åkerholm, NIB President and CEO, at +358 10 618 001

Mr Jukka Ahonen, Communications Director, NIB, +358 10 618 0295,