Renewables will attract investments of over €500,000 million by 2020

Brian Field made this statement during a press conference at the OECD Summit on Climate Change and Sustainable Cities held last week in Spain, which brought together 70 experts and politicians from 30 OECD countries. The chairman of the EIB underlined the importance his bank gives to climate change, stating that the fight against climate change ranks highly among the EIB’s objectives, with the bank “allocating more resources that any other institution in the world” to this issue.

Field also described how in the last two years, the EIB has allocated around €28 billion to projects which tackle climate change by cutting air pollution and promoting biodiversity, etc. and calculates that funds of €20,000 million could be allocated during 2009. He explained that the majority of this investment will be channelled through cities, since a “key aspect” of the bank’s policy is to promote sustainable cities.

Field also declared that during 2007 the EIb extended loans totalling €7,000 million to energy-related projects: €5,000 million to energy efficiency projects and €2,000 million to renewables.

With regard to sustainable cities, the chairman of the EIB indicated that his institution had set specific targets to extend “more aggressive” loans to cities and towns, develop higher risk products for the bank, and support the JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) Initiative of the European Commission to promote sustainable investment, growth and jobs in Europe’s urban areas

Public sector incentives

Speaking at the OECD event held in the Canary Islands (Spain), Head of Regional Competitiveness and Governance of the OECD, Marcos Bonturi, highlighted that the public sector must encourage private companies to take action to fight climate change and promote renewable energies, underlining the Canary Island’s potential for wind and solar power.

He emphasised that green investments are not a “luxury” but a necessity, and that they also make cities more attractive in a world in which certain sectors in the knowledge economy are becoming increasingly mobile. Bonturi believes that it is essential to achieve international cooperation, which will be the objective of the Copenhague UN Climate Change Conference in December, because part of the world – developed nations – have over 20 years of experience in tackling pollution and cutting CO₂ emissions, which is underused and should be applied in emerging economies such as China and India.