European bank, German firm ink pact to counter climate change
The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on Wednesday announced stepping up their cooperation in climate change mitigation.
EIB President Werner Hoyer and GIZ Management Board’s chair Tanja Gonner underscored their commitment in an agreement signed here.
Although climate change mitigation and renewable energy projects take centre stage, the two organisations also plan to support projects in several other sectors, including agriculture, infrastructure development and employment promotion in emerging economies and developing countries.
GIZ and EIB have already launched their first cooperative project named FELICITY, which stands for Financing Energy for Low-carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility.
Cities and municipalities have to embrace green climate ideas and invest in sustainable infrastructure, for example in buildings, public transport, wastewater management or district heating, an official statement said.
FELICITY helps them identify and plan suitable projects and then draft applications that make international banks want to invest.
FELICITY is being implemented on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB) as part of the International Climate Initiative.
“EIB is an international player in the field of climate finance and has many years of experience in financing sustainable infrastructure projects. That’s why the bank is an important partner for us,” Gonner said.
“In our joint efforts, we will be building on GIZ’s experience in managing change processes, in transferring know-how and in creating enabling environments in order to promote sustainable investment in developing countries and emerging economies,” said Hoyer.
As the financing arm of the European Union, EIB works closely with EU bodies. It uses its financing instruments and expertise in sustainable investment projects to put EU policy into practice.
Source -IANS
