NWB LOAN FOR CLIMATE AND FLOOD PROTECTION - MBIL

The project concerns a multiple beneficiary intermediated loan (MBIL) with the second largest public sector bank in the Netherlands (NWB Bank) to finance small and medium scale projects promoted by the water authorities (SSPAs). Sub-projects will be investments in flood protection and water management.

This will be the fourth operation with NWB Bank. The third loan was fully disbursed in 2022. Similarly to this one, the proposed loan will exclusively finance investments in the water sector, and the intended beneficiaries of the loan are water authorities in the Netherlands. The loan proceeds will be utilised during 2024-2026 to finance investments in flood defenses and water resource management, to ensure continued compliance with EU Directives and national guidelines.

This EIB loan primarily finances flood defence and water management projects in the Netherlands. Such projects contribute significantly to the EIB's public policy objective of sustainable energy and natural resources and to the sub-objective of water, wastewater, and waste management thereby supporting the EU policy objectives namely the European Green Deal. The operation foresees that the investment volume will fully be dedicated to Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability sub-projects. The suggested operation enhances public good provision and generates positive externalities, including avoided loss of life, avoided damage to infrastructure, the environmental benefits of improved water quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions, as well as improved resilience against floods that enables also adaptation of other economic activities. These benefits would not be realised to the same extent without public intervention.

Although NWB Bank has a good access to capital markets, EIB financing contributes to the diversification of the NWB Bank's funding structure in terms of maturity profile and financier base. The EIB loan also supports NWB Bank's optimisation of the capital structure to reach a more balanced mix of different refinancing sources.

In accordance with the EIB's policy to ensure that sub-loans comply with the EU acquis, in particular in the fields of environment, the EIB will require NWB Bank to take all the requisite measures to ensure that the environment procedures carried out by the final beneficiaries for the sub-projects will comply with the relevant EU legislation and the applicable national legislation, provided that it is in conformity with EU rules.

The intermediary institution will be required to take all the requisite measures to ensure that any procurement procedures carried out by the final beneficiaries for the sub-projects are in accordance with EIB's Guide to Procurement and the relevant applicable EU public procurement rules.