EIB raises REPowerEU clean energy funding package to EUR 45bn

The board of directors of the European Investment Bank Group (EIB) has decided to increase the size of the existing EUR-30-billion (USD 33.47bn) REPowerEU financing package for clean energy by 50% to EUR 45 billion.

The bank said in a statement on Wednesday that the additional funds are seen to mobilise more than EUR 150 billion in investment by 2027 and will be available to renewables, energy storage, grids, energy efficiency and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure projects.

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More specifically, EIB will be supporting solar photovoltaic and solar thermal technologies, onshore and offshore wind, battery and storage, heat pumps and geothermal technologies, electrolysers and fuel cells, sustainable biogas, carbon capture and storage (CCS), and grid technologies. In addition, investments related to the extraction, processing and recycling of related critical raw materials will be eligible for financing as well.

The board has also authorised lending EUR 10 billion for projects in energy, innovation, business investment and education, as well as for water infrastructure destroyed by the earthquake in Turkey. Those projects include new wind and solar generation in Spain and Austria, grid upgrades in Italy, along with an EV battery cell manufacturing gigafactory in France.

Also this week, EIB’s board has decided to increase the minimum target for its share of annual lending dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability from 50% to 52% in the period 2025-2027 as the bank already met the prior target in 2022.

(EUR 1.0 = USD 1.116)