- The EIB Group is the first multilateral development bank to become a signatory
- Last year, over 2 900 companies reported data to investors through CDP’s disclosure system
CDP and the European Investment Bank Group (the European Investment Bank and the European Investment Fund) are pleased to announce today that the EIB Group has furthered its commitment to driving corporate environmental transparency by becoming an investor signatory to CDP, the non-profit that runs the environmental disclosure system.
As an investor signatory, the EIB Group will support CDP’s annual disclosure request sent to over 7 000 companies globally. It joins a group of 590 financial institutions, with $110 trillion in assets, requesting disclosure using CDP’s climate change, forests and/or water security questionnaires that are fully aligned with the recommendations issued by the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD).
As the first multilateral development bank in the world to become a signatory, the EIB Group gains access to the world’s largest corporate environmental dataset, which can be used to inform its investment and financing activities. Last year, over 2 900 companies, including nearly 80% of Europe’s market value, reported environmental data to investors through CDP’s disclosure system.
The new EIB Group Climate Bank Roadmap envisages that the Group aligns all its financing activities with the Paris Agreement from the start of 2021, supports €1 trillion of investment for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2030, and dedicates more than half of the EIB’s annual financing to green investments by 2025.
Ambroise Fayolle, Vice-President of the EIB, commented: “We will not mobilise the trillions needed to solve the dual climate and environmental crisis without transparent and accountable data. That is why we are glad to be the first multilateral development bank to support the CDP initiative, which gathers environmental impact data from thousands of companies, cities, states and regions. The EIB is committed to being a global climate leader and to stepping up its engagement with clients around the world to support climate action and environmental sustainability projects.”
Alain Godard, EIF Chief Executive, stated: “The CDP Europe Report shows significant differences among companies on carbon performance, climate goals and the disclosure of related information. To scale up the necessary investments to meet European climate targets, we need environmental disclosure from all economic players. Therefore, as the specialist provider of risk finance for small and medium businesses in Europe, the EIF is delighted to partner with CDP. This sends a strong signal about the importance of environmental disclosure and our cooperation with civil society.”
Laurent Babikian, Director Capital Markets at CDP Europe, commented: “EIB Group financing is instrumental to achieving the European Green Deal and EU climate neutrality by 2050. We are therefore delighted to welcome the EIB Group – the EU climate bank – as a CDP investor signatory. High-quality corporate environmental data are the foundation for shifting trillions of euros from dirty to green assets to achieve EU goals. With Europe at the forefront of sustainable finance, this sends a clear signal to the market that public European financing is focused on companies leading the transition to a sustainable economy. Through this partnership, we look forward to continuing the close collaboration between CDP and the EIB Group on environmental topics."
Background information
The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond. The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries and is the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects. The EIB Group has recently adopted its Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support EUR 1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and to deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. Also as part of the Roadmap, from the start of 2021, all new EIB Group operations will be aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement.
The European Investment Fund (EIF) is part of the European Investment Bank Group. Its central mission is to support Europe's micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) by helping them to access finance. EIF designs and develops venture and growth capital, guarantees and microfinance instruments, which specifically target this market segment. In this role, EIF fosters EU objectives in support of innovation, research and development, entrepreneurship, growth, and employment.
CDP is a global non-profit that runs the world’s environmental disclosure system for companies, cities, states and regions. Founded in 2000 and working with more than 590 investors with over $110 trillion in assets, CDP pioneered using capital markets and corporate procurement to motivate companies to disclose their environmental impacts, and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, safeguard water resources and protect forests. Over 10,000 organizations around the world disclosed data through CDP in 2020, including more than 9,600 companies, worth over 50% of global market capitalization, and over 940 cities, states and regions, representing a combined population of over 2.6 billion. Fully TCFD aligned, CDP holds the largest environmental database in the world, and CDP scores are widely used to drive investment and procurement decisions towards a zero carbon, sustainable and resilient economy. CDP is a founding member of the Science Based Targets initiative, We Mean Business Coalition, The Investor Agenda and the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative. Visit cdp.net or follow us @CDP to find out more.