BARCELONA SOCIAL AND ENERGY EFFICIENT HOUSING

The framework loan will support the construction of new social housing units for rent in Barcelona, built to high energy efficiency standards. The loan will also cover related infrastructure.

The aim is to support Barcelona's efforts to address current shortages in social housing and to promote social inclusion and urban regeneration in designated areas. It will notably benefit low-income households and vulnerable groups. The project is therefore aligned with the objectives of the EU Urban Agenda, as well as the 2022 Nice Declaration and the 2024 Liège Declaration on Housing. The operation is fully in line with the requirements of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive. It also supports European and Spanish targets on energy efficiency and will contribute to the EU's energy objectives, helping to tackle climate change. This project is a sub-operation under the 2024-0437 EU CNC Mission Cities Lending Envelope. It aims to co-finance the Action Plans and Investment Plans of EU cities labelled under the EU Mission for Climate-Neutral and Smart Cities, with the goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2030. The project is fully consistent with the European Green Deal target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and supports the European Commission's proposal to reduce net emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.

The Project is contributing to support Barcelona in its efforts to alleviate current shortages in social housing supply, and to foster the overall social integration and urban regeneration of designated areas, benefiting notably low-income households and vulnerable people.

The Project is supported by a sound national, regional and local policy and regulatory social housing framework. In addition, the Project is aligned to the EU and EIB Framework applicable for housing, including the EIBG Action Plan for Affordable and Sustainable Housing, the EIB's Urban Lending Review, and the Bank's Energy Lending Policy. Furthermore, this Project is deemed aligned to the EIB Gender Equality Strategy and Action Plan (Significant Gender Tag). It is also eligible under the criteria for the Bank's Sustainable Awareness Bonds. Finally, it is compliant to a low carbon and resilient pathway, consistent with the Paris Agreement goals and principles and with the Climate Bank Roadmap. Therefore, the Project counts fully towards the Bank's Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability targets.

Given the above, the Project contributes to two of the EIBG core strategic priorities, as stated in the EIB Group's Strategic roadmap 2024-2027: Social Infrastructure and Climate Action and Environmental Sustainability.

The Project will also contribute to the EU Mission - Climate Neutral and Smart City (CNC EU Mission) and aimed at supporting EU cities in becoming climate neutral by 2030. Therefore, the Project is thus fully consistent with the European Green Deal target of ensuring no net emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050.

The Project will be implemented by the Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation of Barcelona (IMHAB). This is the Municipal Social Housing Company in Barcelona, which has a very good track record experience in implementing and monitoring projects in the social housing sector.

The Project addresses a number of market failures, in particular the lack of available social housing supply as the market does not sufficiently cater for the demand of low-income and vulnerable people. The Project also addresses sub-optimal investment flows into highly energy efficient and resilient new buildings. By providing long maturity loan terms, the Bank enables for a greater number of housing units to be built more rapidly, thus helping relieve the pressure faced by this sector in these difficult times.

The Bank's technical contribution to the Project is expected to be good as ensures the technical and economic quality of the investment through disbursement conditions and relevant monitoring.

Finally, the availability of long-term finance for this type of investment programmes is a key contribution of the EIB, considering the long-term nature of the investments and its positive impact on the overall project cost. The EIB loan will include flexible drawdown terms and conditions adjusted to the investment horizon of the Project.

The promoter is deemed as having the adequate capacity to verify the compliance with the relevant EU Directives: environmental impact assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by Directive 2014/52/EU, SEA Directive 2001/42/EC, EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC, Birds Directive 2009/147/EC, and Water Framework Directive (WFD) 2000/60/EC. Furthermore, for the new buildings, the Promoter is also deemed capable of ensuring the compliance with EU Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings. Finally, the project is expected to fully contribute to the EIB climate action and environmental sustainability objectives.

The Bank will require the promoter to ensure that contracts for implementation of the project have been or will be tendered in accordance with the applicable EU procurement legislation Directive 2014/23/EU / 2014/24/EU / 2014/25/EU as well as Directive 92/13/EEC or Directive 89/665/EEC as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required.