• EUR 250m for front-running SMEs with one of the selected quality marks for environmental performance.
  • The facility follows three earlier “impact loans”, for a total of EUR 350m, that have supported nearly 300 Dutch SMEs.
  • Selected SMEs will enjoy an interest rate discount from 0.30-0.70% thanks to EIB backing.

Following three earlier successful operations, the Rabobank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are launching an expanded EUR 250 million “impact loan” for SMEs in the Netherlands. So far, nearly 300 environmentally-conscious businesses in the Netherlands have already benefitted from advantageous lending conditions of the EIB-backed impact loans with the Rabobank.

Wiebe Draijer, Chairman of Rabobank’s Managing Board, said: “Impact loans are a success. Our employees are highly motivated to work with customers and explore how they can invest in sustainability. Impact loans contribute to the objectives of the Paris agreements. We are investigating whether impact loans can also be deployed to finance circular economy initiatives. The demand for impact loans is likely to increase since sustainability is a top priority for all businesses, which is why customers are very positive about the impact loans. The interest rate discount is both a reward for frontrunners in sustainability and an incentive for them to keep up the good work.”

“This initiative rewards those businesses that have made a real effort to become greener”, added the EIB’s President Werner Hoyer. “Thanks to the excellent collaboration with the Rabobank, frontrunners in different sectors get the chance to further expand their businesses, or finance other innovative plans. The expansion of the impact loans is all the more telling in the light of the Paris agreements; it shows that doing green business makes economic sense.”

Impact loans are available to entrepreneurs who are frontrunners in their sector, are demonstrably engaged in corporate social responsibility and possess one of the selected quality marks. Applications for an impact loan have to meet the normal conditions of the EIB and Rabobank. Impact loans are available for businesses with up to 3,000 employees. The total investment may not exceed 25 million euros and the loan principal is capped at 7.5 million euros. The final loan approval decision rests with Rabobank.