High-level meeting: NIB and EIB to strengthen cooperation on environmental finance

On 17 June, the Management Committee of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and NIB’s Executive Committee convened in Helsinki for a high-level meeting to discuss joint commitments and cooperation on climate and environmental finance.

As part of the EIB’s Management Committee visit to Helsinki this week, a high-level meeting took place with the top management of the Nordic Investment Bank. Cooperation between the two multilateral investment institutions dates back as far as the 1980s, and was further strengthened by a Memorandum of Understanding that came into force in 2014.

“Environmental sustainability is one of the cornerstones of NIB’s mission, which is to finance projects that improve productivity and benefit the environment of the Nordic and Baltic countries. This positive engagement and collaboration with the EIB will certainly strengthen the impact of sustainable finance”, says Henrik Normann, NIB President & CEO.

On the occasion EIB President Werner Hoyer remarked: “Both banks will continue to build on their successful cooperation. More specifically, our people will work together in a targeted manner on climate, circular economy and sustainability, with an enhanced focus on the energy and housing sectors, all of which are key priorities of Nordic governments.”

Background information:

The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is an international financial institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank finances private and public projects in and outside the member countries. NIB has the highest possible credit rating, AAA/Aaa, with the leading rating agencies Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. In 2018, the Bank made available in excess of EUR 1.78 billion in loans for Finnish projects.

Both the EIB and NIB have been key players in the Baltic Sea Strategy, which has as objectives to (i) save the sea, (ii) connect the region, and (iii) to increase prosperity. The activities that EIB and NIB have undertaken so far “to save the sea” are to finance wastewater treatment plants in places that are classified by the Helsinki Commission as hot spots or sources of massive pollution. Within the framework of the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP – partnership between the European Commission, the EIB, NIB, NEFCO, EBRD, and the WB) the EIB and NIB have co-financed several high priority projects to clean up pollution in the St Petersburg region.