- The €200 million loan will support KONE’s research and development for more energy efficient elevators, escalators, autowalks, automatic doors, intelligent technologies and solutions for people flow.
- The project will contribute to increasing the European Union industry’s technology leadership and competitiveness.
The €200 million loan signed today between the EIB and Finland Based KONE Corporation will support research and development in innovation. This will improve the safety and functional performance of KONE’s product range while at the same time reducing the carbon footprint of KONE’s solutions by improving the energy efficiency of the products and services and consequently of the buildings where they will be used.
“We are delighted to sign this agreement with KONE,” said EIB Vice-President Thomas Östros, responsible for Finland. “This is our third loan to the company and besides improving energy efficiency at a crucial time, in elevators and escalators, the project will reinforce Europe’s industrial technology leadership. The project will also boost competitiveness in a number of areas including digitalisation and advanced materials, and will therefore support, directly and indirectly, economic growth and employment in the European Union.”
“This agreement supports us in further developing more sustainable and digitally-enabled people flow solutions for urban areas. We believe that our solutions will have a huge impact on how people move in cities and in buildings, and also on energy efficiency and safe usage of the equipment”, said Jean-Christophe Almira, Senior Vice President, Head of Global Research and Development at KONE.
“We will concentrate on innovations that will help us reach our ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets. We want to be a trusted partner for our customers when it comes to carbon footprint reduction, digitally-enabled solutions, operational efficiency and safety”, Mr Almira continued.
Background information
The EIB Group has adopted a Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support €1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. Under this roadmap, all new EIB Group operations have been aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement since the start of 2021.
KONE´s mission is to improve the flow of urban life. As a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, KONE provides elevators, escalators and automatic building doors, as well as solutions for maintenance and modernisation to add value to buildings throughout their life cycle. Through more effective People Flow®, we make people's journeys safe, convenient and reliable, in taller, smarter buildings. In 2021, KONE had annual sales of €10.5 billion, and at year-end over 60 000 employees. KONE class B shares are listed on the Nasdaq Helsinki Ltd in Finland.