EIB to Provide Support for 3 First-of-a-Kind Climate Action Projects

EIB has signed 3 agreements with leading European innovators to collaborate on the development and financing of new projects that address climate change.

The European Investment Bank (EIB), one of the world’s largest providers of climate finance, has announced that it has signed three agreements with leading European innovators to collaborate on the development and potential financing of new projects that address climate change. Under a partnership with the European Commission delivered through the InnovFin Advisory programme, the EIB will provide strategic financial advice and support to RenFuel (Sweden), Bioforever (Netherlands) and Magaldi (Italy) to help prepare their climate action projects for potential financing.

All three projects address climate change by developing innovative, first-of-a-kind demonstration plants:

RenFuel Lignolproduktion AB: A production plant for lignin oil (LIGNOL®) from lignin in black liquor from the pulp industry in Sweden. RenFuel’s plant plans to extract 70 000 tonnes of lignin, which will result in an annual production capacity of approximately 185 000 tonnes of LIGNOL®.

Magaldi Power: A first-of-a-kind plant based on a new solar thermal generation and storage concept in which a fluidised bed of sand generates green thermal or electrical power that is dispatchable on demand. The promoter is based in Italy and its demonstration project will be located in southern Europe.

Bioforever: A demonstration-scale wood-to-ethanol biorefinery in the Netherlands, with a capacity of 35 000 tonnes of wood waste, producing 8 000 tonnes of ethanol per year.

The promoters and the EIB, through InnovFin Advisory – a programme supported by the European Commission to advise companies on how to structure their projects in order to improve their access to finance – will work on bringing the projects to maturity. The EIB will provide extensive knowledge sharing to each promoter and help them navigate the financing schemes that exist within and beyond the EIB, in order to bring these types of project to life. The Bank offers numerous options for companies looking for funding, such as corporate loans, project finance, or venture debt.

This Project Development Assistance (PDA) is available to project promoters to increase the investment readiness of projects in innovative renewable energy, carbon capture and storage (CCS), smart energy systems and storage. The funding for the PDA originates from the NER 300 programme, which was set up by pooling together around EUR 2 billion of overall support for innovative low-carbon technology, focusing on the demonstration of environmentally safe CCS and innovative renewable energy technologies on a commercial scale within the EU.  

“If we want to achieve our ambitious climate action targets we need highly innovative technologies and flagship projects with European value-added that can bring about significant emission reductions. Our advisory services play a key role in structuring and maturing such innovative projects across all sectors to a stage where they become scalable and truly impactful. That is why I am very happy about today’s agreements,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle.