European Investment Bank Activity Report 2020

EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK

CRISIS SOLUTIONS

2020

ACTIVITY REPORT

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank is the world’s biggest multilateral lender. The only bank owned by and representing the interests of the EU countries, the EIB finances Europe’s economic growth. Over six decades the Bank has backed start-ups like Skype and massive schemes like the Øresund Bridge linking Sweden and Denmark. Headquartered in Luxembourg, the EIB Group includes the European Investment Fund, a specialist financer of small and medium-sized enterprises.

HOW TO READ THE REPORT

Recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19 is urgent, but it must be a green recovery and it must be fair to people in developing countries. THIS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK’S EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO COVID-19 IN 2020, ALONGSIDE THE INVESTMENTS IN CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT WITH WHICH THE BANK WILL DRIVE A SUSTAINABLE RETURN TO GROWTH.

THREE THEMATIC SECTIONS MAKE UP THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE REPORT, focusing on some of the Bank’s solutions for the COVID-19 crisis, climate and environmental degradation, and the need for sustainable development. These “Solutions” sections begin with voices from around the Bank, key staff explaining how the EIB responded to a year of crises and laid the foundations for future innovation and growth. The stories that follow take you through the Bank’s work in innovation, infrastructure, SMEs and climate and environment inside the European Union (EU) and beyond the EU’s borders.

THE REST OF THE REPORT PROVIDES THE CONTEXT FOR THESE SOLUTIONS. From the strategic thinking of the President’s Foreword to data on the Bank’s lending and borrowing and a look at the year ahead in the highlights of the Group Operational Plan.

THE REPORT TELLS THE STORY OF A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION THAT IS ENGAGED ON EVERY LEVEL – FROM SUPPORT FOR MICRO LOANS TO MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES – IN FINDING SOLUTIONS TO THE CRISES AROUND US.

HOW TO READ THIS REPORT HOW TO READ THE REPORT Recovery from the economic impact of COVID-19 is urgent, but it must be a green recovery and it must be fair to people in developing countries. THIS REPORT HIGHLIGHTS THE EUROPEAN INVESTMENT BANK’S EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO COVID-19 IN 2020, ALONGSIDE THE INVESTMENTS IN CLIMATE, ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT WITH WHICH THE BANK WILL DRIVE A SUSTAINABLE RETURN TO GROWTH. THREE THEMATIC SECTIONS MAKE UP THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE REPORT , focusing on some of the Bank’s solutions for the COVID-19 crisis, climate and environmental degradation, and the need for sustainable development. These “Solutions” sections begin with voices from around the Bank, key staff explaining how the EIB responded to a year of crises and laid the foundations for future innovation and growth. The stories that follow take you through the Bank’s work in innovation, infrastructure, SMEs and climate and environment inside the European Union (EU) and beyond the EU’s borders. THE REST OF THE REPORT PROVIDES THE CONTEXT FOR THESE SOLUTIONS . From the strategic thinking of the President’s Foreword to data on the Bank’s lending and borrowing and a look at the year ahead in the highlights of the Group Operational Plan. THE REPORT TELLS THE STORY OF A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION THAT IS ENGAGED ON EVERY LEVEL – FROM SUPPORT FOR MICRO LOANS TO MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES – IN FINDING SOLUTIONS TO THE CRISES AROUND US.

FOREWORD PROOF THAT EUROPE DELIVERS

2020 HIGHLIGHTS LENDING AND IMPACT DATA

THE EIB IN YOUR COUNTRY LENDING BY COUNTRY

EFSI IN YOUR COUNTRY THE EUROPEAN FUND FOR STRATEGIC INVESTMENTS BY COUNTRY

THE EIB IN YOUR WORLD LENDING BEYOND THE EUROPEAN UNION

COVID SOLUTIONS: THE EIB STEPS UP TO FACE THE PANDEMIC

A SWIFT RESPONSE: THE PAN-EUROPEAN GUARANTEE FUND

TREAT, TEST, VACCINATE: KEY INVESTMENTS IN COVID-19 VACCINES, THERAPIES AND TESTS

‘A GODSEND, A BEAUTIFUL THING’: COVID-19 CRISIS SUPPORT FOR SMALL ITALIAN BUSINESSES

A LIFELINE FOR NORTHERN SPAIN: COVID-19 CRISIS SUPPORT FOR SMALL SPANISH BUSINESSES

BACK TO BASICS: HEALTHCARE INVESTMENTS IN HUNGARY AND THE CZECH REPUBLIC

CLIMATE SOLUTIONS: OUR EXPERTS ASSESS THE CHALLENGE OF CLIMATE CHANGE

A PLAN FOR THE PLANET: THE CLIMATE BANK ROADMAP

WHEN THE WINDS DON’T BLOW: INNOVATIVE SWEDISH BATTERIES FOR HOMES AND CARS

WHAT MONTY PYTHON FORGOT ABOUT LUPINS: A CIRCULAR BIOECONOMY FUND

SUSTAINABILITY IN SPACE: CLIMATE CHANGE DATA AND NEW SPACE TECH IN ITALY

GREEN STEEL, CIRCULAR STEEL: STEEL DECARBONISATION AND BIOFUEL IN BELGIUM

SECRETS TO REVEAL: STUDYING CLIMATE CHANGE AND NATURAL DISASTERS IN GREECE

A PLAN FOR LIFE: RETHINKING URBAN DEVELOPMENT IN BARCELONA

GREEN DEAL IN MOTION: POLAND GETS A RENEWABLE ENERGY BOOST

DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS: THE GLOBAL VIEW

FAST RELIEF: COVID-19 ACTION IN MOROCCO’S HEALTH SYSTEM

SAVING YOUNGSTERS' DREAMS: IN THE CLASSROOM IN MOROCCO AND TUNISIA

VACCINE SOLIDARITY: A FAIR SHARE OF THE COVID-19 VACCINE FOR AFRICA

THE OTHER INFECTIOUS THREAT: A TUBERCULOSIS VACCINE FOR THE DEVELOPING WORLD

GEORGIAN CHEESE WITH A TASTE OF SWITZERLAND: EU FINANCE FOR AN EASTERN NEIGHBOUR

DIGITAL KIDS: TECHNOLOGY TRANSFORMS SERBIAN SCHOOLS

BORROWING HIGHLIGHTS

GOVERNANCE AND GROUP OPERATIONAL PLAN

WHAT’S NEXT? WHAT KEY EIB STAFF EXPECT TO SEE IN THEIR SECTORS OR MARKETS IN 2021

Faced with the immediate challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Investment Bank acted decisively to protect jobs, to back crisis-afflicted industries and to help absorb the most violent of economic shocks. In doing so, we did not lessen our commitment to the long-term battle against the climate threat. We used our experience and expertise to incorporate our climate goals into our pandemic safety net. It is in nobody’s interest simply to rebuild. With the EIB, Europe and the world can build back better.

In 2020, we fought COVID-19 itself, with investments in companies researching tests, therapeutics and vaccines, including Germany’s BioNTech, which produced the first approved vaccine. Our financing supported health systems in countries across the European Union and backed the development of key technologies that will shorten the pandemic. We confronted the disease’s impact on the economy with a raft of immediate measures to inject liquidity into the economy for small business in particular, even as we prepared the more comprehensive Pan-European Guarantee Fund.

Unlike previous shocks, this crisis originated in the real economy, not the financial or sovereign sectors. Millions of perfectly healthy firms suddenly suffered liquidity problems due to lockdowns. By supporting investment in the real economy, the Pan-European Guarantee Fund is already helping ensure that healthy firms (and the jobs they provide) are safeguarded – and that their troubles do not migrate to the banking sector and, thence, to public sector balance sheets.

As the world’s biggest long-term multilateral borrower and lender, we did all this whilst paying careful attention to the implications of our investment for the challenges that shall remain after COVID-19. And we did it with a global perspective. Our investment is sustainable and green, battling the pandemic even as we lay the foundations for a crucial decade of struggle against climate change. We partnered with other multilaterals and investors to ensure that a solution for COVID-19 would be shared with developing countries too, approving a €400 million deal with COVAX, a global initiative to promote equal access to a vaccine in developing countries. This was a moral responsibility, and it is also a key contribution to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals.