12 Dec 2019
Cooperation
We place great importance on cooperation with other financing institutions. NIB's aim is to add value for its customers by supplementing other sources of finance with long-term loans.
NIB co-finances projects with other international financial institutions and public and private lenders, cooperates with local intermediaries in financing small businesses and actively participates in Northern Dimension partnerships. With regards to environmental cooperation, NIB has signed the European Principles of the Environment together with four other European international financial institutions.
International financial institutions
At the high-level meeting of the EIB's Management Committee and NIB's Executive Committee, discussing joint commitments and cooperation on climate and environmental finance. From left: EIB President Werner Hoyer and NIB President & CEO Henrik Normann.
NIB has established cooperation with international financial institutions such as the Asian Development Bank, African Development Bank, Council of Europe Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Inter-American Development Bank, as well as the IBRD, IDA, and IFC within the World Bank Group.
Furthermore, NIB has cooperation agreements with three regional multilateral banks: the Black Sea Trade & Development Bank, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration CABEI and the Development Bank of Latin America CAF. Through these institutions, NIB can operate also in countries where it has no agreement on financial cooperation.
Intermediaries
In addition to financing projects directly with larger companies, NIB channels financing to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through intermediaries. Loan programmes with intermediaries broaden the geography of NIB's operations as they allow the Bank to reach companies with specific knowledge of national and regional markets.
In NIB's member countries, commercial banks usually act as intermediaries. Outside the member countries, NIB cooperates both with financial intermediaries, mainly commercial banks and state-owned development banks, and with governmental intermediaries, such as ministries of finance and economy
Nordic Finance Group
Together, the three financial institutions located in Helsinki, Finland,—NIB, the Nordic Development Fund and Nordic Environment Finance Corporation—form the Nordic Finance Group.
NDF is the joint development finance institution of the five Nordic countries and facilitates climate change investments primarily in low-income countries.
Visit NDF's website
NEFCO is an international financial institution established by the Nordic countries to increase environmental awareness in Eastern and Central Europe by providing financing to small and medium-sized environmental projects.
Visit NEFCO's website
Northern Dimension
The Northern Dimension (ND) is an instrument of cooperation between four equal partners, the European Union, Russia, Norway and Iceland. Geographically, the ND covers Northwest Russia, the Baltic Sea and the Arctic regions, including the Barents region. The USA and Canada hold observer status in the ND.
The Northern Dimension policy aims to support stability, welfare and sustainable development in the region by means of practical cooperation. The ND is an instrument through which the European Union, Russia, Norway and Iceland cooperate in selected fields, such as the environment and nuclear safety or social welfare and health care issues.
The Northern Dimension also addresses questions that specifically conern the northern areas, such as the vulernable Arctic environment and matters related to indigenous peoples.
The main regional organisations active in the Northern Dimension are the Council of the Baltic Sea States, the Barents Euro Arctic Council, the Arctic Council and the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership
At the opening of the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant in St. Petersburg, one of the NDEP flagship projects, in 2005.
NIB is a partner in the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP), which is a cooperative effort to coordinate and support the financing of urgent environmental investments in north-western regions of Russia. The partnership combines the expertise and resources of the European Commission, the Russian Federation, the EBRD, the EIB, NIB and the World Bank.
The NDEP promotes sustainable solutions in wastewater treatment, solid waste management, energy and water supply, as well as the treatment of nuclear waste.
Northern Dimension Partnership on Transport and Logistics
The Northern Dimension Partnership on Transportation and Logistics (NDPTL) was established in October 2009. The current members of the NDPTL are Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the European Commission.
NDPTL endeavours to accelerate the implementation of major infrastructure projects within the Northern Dimension region, serving as a regional forum for transport and logistics issues and complementing the work of cooperation structures already in existence, with project financing to stem from national budgets, the EU, international financial institutions and relevant national financial institutions.
A secretariat for the partnership was set up within NIB in Helsinki in February 2011 with the objective of providing administrative and technical support to the Steering Committee and High-Level Meetings in their task of monitoring the implementation of the Partnership.
The objectives of the Partnership are detailed in the Memorandum of Understanding signed in Naples on 21 October 2009 on a ministerial level by eleven countries and the European Commission.
Read more on projects supported by the NDPTL Support Fund here.
NDPTL secretariat
Oddgeir Danielsen, Director
Direct +358 10 618 0425
Mobile +358 50 431 4981
oddgeir.danielsen@ndptl.org
Olga Gurikova, Assistant
Direct +358 10 618 0378
Mobile +358 50 406 3693
olga.gurikova@ndptl.org
Environmental cooperation
NIB seeks business partners who share its vision and commitment to sustainable development. The Bank also works together with other international financial institutions (IFIs) and organisations in order to promote sound, coordinated and effective approaches to environmental issues. NIB participates in several international and regional forums for environmental cooperation, including the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership.
NIB works together with the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, also known as HELCOM. Within the Council of the Baltic Sea States, NIB is part of the international working group Baltic Agenda 21. NIB also participates in the MFI Environmental Working Group, which is a cooperation forum for multilateral financial institutions. NIB communicates its environmental requirements to its financial intermediaries and may assist the intermediaries in implementing them.
In 2006, together with four other European IFIs—EIB, EBRD, CEB and NEFCO—NIB signed the declaration European Principles for the Environment (EPE) concerning environmental management in the financing of projects. The aim of the declaration is to promote sustainable development and to protect and improve the environment. The EPE is based on the environmental principles, practices and standards of the European Union. The ambition is, however, to apply the EPE to projects in all the countries in which NIB and the other signatory banks operate.
In 2013, NIB and nine other IFIs adopted the International Financial Institution Framework for a Harmonised Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting. CO2 estimates are an important parameter in assessing a project’s eligibility for NIB’s financing under the environmental mandate.
In 2015, on the basis of the harmonised approach to project-level greenhouse gas accounting, IFI working groups developed sector specific accounting principles for renewable energy, energy efficiency and the transportation sector.
In 2016, NIB became a member of the Green Bond Principles (GBP) Executive Committee, a group within the International Capital Markets Association (ICMA).
In 2017, NIB was appointed by the European Commission as observer to the High-Level Expert Group on Sustainable Finance.
A satellite image of algal bloom in the Baltic Sea. Photo: ESA Earth Online
Links
European Principles for the Environment
Integrating Climate Change Information and Adaptation in Project Development
IFI Framework for Harmonised Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting
IFI Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting for Energy Efficiency Projects
IFI Approach to Greenhouse Gas Accounting for Renewable Energy Projects
IFI Joint Approach to Greenhouse Gas Assessment in Transport Sector
