COP26: EIB will triple climate adaptation finance with new Adaptation Plan

Faster finance to help reduce the risks of climate change Ensure all projects include robust information on the impacts of climate change Support for least developed countries and small island developing states

The European Investment Bank (EIB) launched its first dedicated Adaptation Plan to support projects around the world to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The plan was launched during the COP26 United Nations climate conference in Glasgow. Keynote speakers included EIB President Werner Hoyer and European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans. You can watch the launch event here.

EIB President Werner Hoyer commented: “Climate change is already happening today, and it is threatening the lives and wellbeing of more and more people around the world.  Together with our partners, we must scale up finance and technical assistance to support projects to protect vulnerable communities worldwide. I am delighted that today we are launching the EIB Adaptation Plan, which manifests our global ambition as the EU climate bank. We stand ready to partner worldwide to build more resilient societies.”

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle added: “At the EIB we have made good progress on supporting adaptation projects in Asia, Africa and Europe. We are also financing new innovative technologies to help increase climate resilience.  However, as the EU climate bank, we recognise we must do more. Today’s launch of the EIB Adaptation Plan supports the objectives of the EU Adaptation Strategy and outlines EIB’s future ambition on adaptation and resilience globally.”

European Commission Executive Vice President Frans Timmermans said: “Even if we stopped emitting greenhouse gases tomorrow, we would still need to face the consequences of our past emissions. Adaptation finance is crucial to support the countries already experiencing the brunt of the climate crisis today. Public funding has been the most important source of adaptation finance to date. But I hope the EIB’s initiative will open the way to more private funding as well. Every euro spent on flood or wild fire protection or on climate resilient agriculture saves many euros spent on the devastating consequences of ever more frequent extreme weather events.”

The EIB Adaptation Plan supports the objectives of the European Union Adaptation Strategy inside and outside the EU. The EIB pledges to increase the share of adaptation support to 15% of the bank’s overall finance for climate action by 2025. This represents an almost three-fold increase compared to adaptation finance over the past five years.

The EIB will screen all projects it finances for the risks of climate change and ensure they are adapted to future changes. In the EU, a new advisory service called ADAPT will help public and private sector clients understand how climate change affects their operations.

Outside the European Union, the EIB will increase support for climate-smart digital technologies for agriculture, climate-resilient infrastructure, cities and entrepreneurship to accelerate innovation in adaptation. The EIB will increase the share of financing it can provide for projects that are primarily motivated by adaptation to 75% of the project cost globally and to 100% in the least developed countries and small island developing states.

Partnerships are the key to find solutions to adaptation

In the margins of today’s launch event, the EIB signed a memorandum of understanding with the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts relating to Copernicus Climate Services, the European Union's flagship programme for climate information. The partnership enhances the use of Copernicus climate and atmosphere data services for the benefit of EIB’s and its clients’ decision-making.

In addition, the EIB and Global Center on Adaptation agreed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen their cooperation to accelerate action on climate change adaptation, with a focus on the most climate vulnerable regions.

EIB at COP26

The EIB is present with a pavilion in Hall 4 of the Scottish Event Campus and runs a series of side events on numerous topics. You will find the full agenda here. You are welcome to join our virtual attendee hub to follow the sessions either live or in replay and network with attendees. With an easy two-steps registration, you will always have the latest information on our agenda.

Background information

The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries and is the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects. The EIB Group has recently adopted its Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support EUR 1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and to deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. Also, as part of the Roadmap, from the start of 2021, all new EIB Group operations will be aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement.