Change the lending, not the climate

Bankwatch's new report on the EIB's fossil-heavy energy lending between 2002 and 2008 comes one week before the crunch global climate talks in Copenhagen, in preparation for which the international financial institutions have been flexing their rhetorical muscles.

In a joint statement, president of the EIB Philippe Maystadt pledged support today to the UNFCCC parties and talked of deploying the full arsenal of instruments and resources at our disposal to maximize the use of financial flows by our client partners. Together with the other IFIs, the EIB is committed to provide packages of technical assistance and finance that blend loans, grants, equity, and carbon finance - and to support the carbon markets beyond 2012.

In this video clip, the authors of our new report make some specific suggestions on how the EIB's billions for the energy sector can much better serve EU climate efforts and targets without the millstone of a heavy bias towards fossil fuel subsidisation in Europe and around the world. You can also write to Philippe Maystadt here and suggest that it's really about time for the EIB to get real when it comes to climate change. See also a Bankwatch opinion article at the European Voice website