EIB teams up with Solas Capital to accelerate energy efficiency gains for businesses across Europe

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is intensifying efforts to spur energy savings by businesses across Europe with a €60 million commitment to launch a financing platform run by energy transition investment advisor, Solas Capital. The EIB will invest the sum into Solas Capital’s successor fund, Solas Sustainable Energy Fund II (“SSEF II) to advance energy efficiency projects by small and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs)—the backbone of the European economy.

The platform will expand the European Union’s energy-efficiency services market with the goal to make SMEs more competitive and greener by reducing their energy costs and carbon footprint. The co-financing platform is projected to mobilise almost €400 million – including private-sector capital – for the deployment of technologies such as LED lighting, insulation, heat pumps, rooftop solar systems and electric‑vehicle charging stations across several EU countries.

“We are helping deliver real impact through energy efficiency as a service,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “The result will be lower energy bills for companies and a stronger European economy.”

“We are pleased to deepen our partnership with the EIB, demonstrating how building decarbonisation infrastructure is a crucial pillar of the energy transition, “ said CEO and Co-Founder of Solas Capital Sebastian Carneiro. “Thanks to the €60 million co-investment from the EIB alongside SSEF II, we can unlock much needed infrastructure investments for energy efficiency projects – especially for SMEs - and build upon the strong relationships established by the predecessor fund, all the while contributing to European competitiveness and energy security.”

The new co-financing platform follows a €30 million EIB commitment in 2022 to Solas Sustainable Energy Fund (SSEF), a €220 million energy efficiency debt fund advised by Solas Capital. The partnership will continue expanding energy as a service financing offerings, a model in which firms shift from buying physical equipment to purchasing fixed energy services. This approach enables SMEs and other eligible beneficiaries to access proven, cutting‑edge technologies that achieve instant and measurable energy savings. In turn, investors benefit from asset-backed, contracted cash flows, diversifying energy infrastructure portfolios while advancing Europe’s energy transition priorities.

The new platform was inaugurated at a signing ceremony held today in Luxembourg. The event brought together partner banks and other stakeholders to discuss the green intermediated financing and advisory products of the EIB Group, which includes the European Investment Fund (EIF).

EIB Group Energy Efficiency for SMEs Initiative

The platform is the latest project under a broader initiative announced last year called the EIB Group Energy Efficiency for SMEs initiative. Led by the EIB Group and supported by the European Commission, the initiative seeks to help SMEs using proven energy saving technologies to lower their energy bills and boost their resilience and competitiveness. In the three years through 2027, the EIB Group aims to provide €17.5 billion in financing for up to 350,000 SMEs in Europe to reduce their energy costs and carbon footprint.

Another partner supporting the initiative is the Solar Impulse Foundation, a nonprofit organisation championing “servitisation” – energy efficiency as a service, first announced at COP29 in 2024.

The initiative is on track to surpass its targets and delivered €6 billion in financing in 2025, double the amount provided in 2024, enabling up to 150,000 SMEs across Europe to invest in energy efficiency and decarbonisation projects in the programme’s first year.

Background information    

EIB Group   

The European Investment Bank (ElB) Group is the financing arm of the European Union, owned by the 27 Member States, and one of the largest multilateral development banks in the world. In 2025, the EIB Group signed €100 billion of new financing and advisory services for over 870 high-impact projects in eight core priorities that support EU policy objectives: climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, territorial cohesion, agriculture and the bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships and the savings and investment union. Beyond long-term loans for large infrastructures, the EIB Group crowds-in private investment for high-risk innovative projects and businesses, with a growing role in Europe’s markets for venture debt, venture capital, guarantees and securitisations.

Photos of the EIB Group's spokespeople and headquarters, logo files and video B-roll for media use are available here.  

Solas Capital

Solas Capital is the European specialist in building and industrial decarbonisation infrastructure investments. They address a crucial pillar of the energy transition—energy efficiency and behind-the-meter projects—by providing tailor-made project finance solutions to energy service companies. Their asset-backed private credit strategy delivers fixed-income-type returns and portfolio diversification to institutional investors alongside measurable climate impact and energy security. Based in Zurich with offices in Munich and Dublin, Solas Capital is the investment advisor to the Solas Sustainable Energy Fund ICAV, which is supported by the Munich Re Group, the European Investment Bank, and the LIFE Programme of the European Commission.