EIB CDC PLATFORM - DATA CENTER

The project consists in a newly created Investment Platform with French National Promotional Bank Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC). EIB's contribution will materialise through a contingent loan. The EIB intervention will leverage CDC's and other investors' investment capacity towards the development of Data Centers in France and more specifically in cohesion regions.

Europe's digital sovereignty and global competitiveness depend on strong and secure internal and external connectivity networks. Both dimensions will be vital for achieving the objectives of Europe's Digital Decade. Within Europe, resilient and secure connectivity is the pillar of a successful digital transformation. The Commission has been working closely with Member States to improve connectivity within the EU, particularly to roll out advanced networks and it particular the aspect of network security through the Recommendation on the Connectivity Toolbox. The deployment of the data centers will enable the delivery of an innovative and secure private and hybrid cloud offering, while ensuring the sovereignty over the data managed, and compliance with local data security regulations (e.g. GDPR). The project thus supports Europe in its efforts to foster its competitive position in the IT infrastructure and services business and therefore contributes to the European Data and Digital Strategy by investing in innovation enabling facilities, such as data centers as well as related services. The project is also in line with the 2020 joint declaration by the EU Member States on the European cloud federation initiative. The project is thus eligible under article 309 point (c) common interest and point (a) projects for developing less-developed regions, for applicable parts. Regarding the EIB's Public Policy Goals (PPGs), the project contributes to Innovation, Digital and Human Capital, Digital Infrastructure.

Investments for the construction of data centres might fall under the Annexes of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU amended by Directive 2014/52/EU. The project represents a mixture of greenfield deployments and upgrades of existing facilities. The appropriate level of required environmental approvals will be assessed for the different cases during the project appraisal stage as well as the compliance of the project with the relevant EU legislation and specifically the Code of Conduct for Energy Efficiency in Data Centres.

The end-beneficiaries are expected to be private companies not being subject to EU rules on public procurement or concessions. However, should some end-beneficiaries be subject to the EU public procurement legislation then the Bank will require the Platform to take all the requisite measures to ensure that procurement procedures carried out by the final beneficiaries for the projects that the Bank finances will comply with the relevant EU public procurement legislation (Directive 2014/24/EU and/or 2014/25/EU as well as Directives 89/665/EEC or 92/13/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.