October 21st, 2019
The European
Investment Bank (EIB) has delayed its decision to back a new energy
lending policy that includes plans to
phase out its support of fossil fuel-dependent projects.
In August, the EIB
outlined a planned phase-out of support for projects that are “reliant” on fossil
fuels by the end of 2020 in its draft Energy Lending Policy.
This includes
projects linked directly to oil and gas production, infrastructure primarily
dedicated to natural gas, and power or heat generation projects based on fossil
fuels.
Phasing out
support for fossil fuel projects, the draft policy document states, reflects a
decision to refocus the Bank’s resources on investments to meet the EU’s
climate targets up to 2050.
There are
challenging “high investment needs”, the draft report states, in order to
achieve a decarbonised Europe by mid-century.
The EIB has
provided investment funds to the energy sector since its foundation in 1957.
Over the last five years, it loaned between €12 and 14 billion to the energy
sector per year, with projects for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and
energy grids increasingly favoured.
The report was
due to be voted on at the meeting of the Bank’s board in September but the decision was delayed
until this month’s meeting last week. Again, however, the board made up
of representatives from every EU member state postponed the vote for at least another
month.
The EIB’s latest
decision, according to Colin Roche of Friends of the Earth Europe, is “extremely concerning” as the climate emergency “has no room for such
dithering”.
In August, Mr Roche
told The Green News that the draft document, if supported, would send a
clear signal that Europe is “going full steam ahead towards a fossil-free
future based on 100 per cent renewable energy”.
“With fires burning in the Arctic and temperature records being broken over and over again, [the EIB decision] cannot come too soon… It’s time stop this obvious craziness,” Mr Roche said at the time.
In addition to
moving away from fossil fuels, the draft report set to be voted on in September
stresses the need to maximize energy efficiency and support “innovative
technologies and new types of energy infrastructure”.
Such
infrastructure includes different types of energy storage and new digital
technologies which can “help to integrate high shares of renewables across
different sectors of the economy”.
The draft
document also proposes establishing an Energy Transition Package to assist
“potentially vulnerable groups or regions” in such the energy transition.
Pressure has been mounting on the Irish Government to provide its own transition assistance to coal and peat communities.
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