• The EIB will end financing for fossil fuel energy projects from the end of 2021
• Future financing will accelerate clean energy innovation, energy efficiency and renewables
• EIB Group financing will unlock EUR 1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainable investment in the decade to 2030
• EIB Group will align all financing activities with the goals of the Paris Agreement from the end of 2020.

The board of the European Investment Bank (EIB) today agreed a new energy lending policy and confirmed the EIB’s increased ambition in climate action and environmental sustainability.

“Climate is the top issue on the political agenda of our time,” said EIB President Werner Hoyer. “Scientists estimate that we are currently heading for 3-4°C of temperature increase by the end of the century. If that happens, large portions of our planet will become uninhabitable, with disastrous consequences for people around the world. The EU bank has been Europe’s climate bank for many years. Today it has decided to make a quantum leap in its ambition. We will stop financing fossil fuels and we will launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere.” Stressing the need for cooperation, he added: “I would like to thank the shareholders of the bank, the EU Member States, for their cooperation over the past months. We look forward to working closely with them and with the EU Council of Ministers, with the European Commission, the European Parliament, international and financial institutions and, crucially, with the private sector, to support a climate neutral European economy by 2050.”

Strengthening the EU Bank’s support for clean energy

The new energy lending policy details five principles that will govern future EIB engagement in the energy sector:

• prioritising energy efficiency with a view to supporting the new EU target under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive
• enabling energy decarbonisation through increased support for low or zero carbon technology, aiming to meet a 32% renewable energy share throughout the EU by 2030
• increasing financing for decentralised energy production, innovative energy storage and e-mobility
• ensuring grid investment essential for new, intermittent energy sources like wind and solar as well as strengthening cross-border interconnections
• increasing the impact of investment to support energy transformation outside the EU.

Andrew McDowell, EIB Vice-President in charge of energy said: “Carbon emissions from the global energy industry reached a new record high in 2018. We must act urgently to counter this trend. The EIB’s ambitious energy lending policy adopted today is a crucial milestone in the fight against global warming. Following a long discussion we have reached a compromise to end the financing by the EU Bank of unabated fossil fuel projects, including gas, from the end of 2021. I am grateful for all those who have contributed to the largest ever public consultation on EIB lending in recent months and energy expert colleagues who have outlined how the EU bank can drive global efforts to decarbonise energy.”

Today’s decision ends an open and inclusive review process which involved industry, institutions, civil society, and the public at large. Intensive stakeholder engagement since January produced more than 149 written submissions from concerned organisations and individuals and petitions signed by more than 30,000 people.                                        

Over the last five years the European Investment Bank has provided more than EUR 65 billion of financing for renewable energy, energy efficiency, and energy distribution.

Following today’s approval of the revised energy lending policy, the EIB will no longer consider new financing for unabated, fossil fuel energy projects, including gas, from the end of 2021 onwards. In addition, the bank set a new Emissions Performance Standard of 250g of CO2 per Kilowatt/hour (KwH). This will replace the current 550gCO2/KwH standard. A previous review of energy lending in 2013 had already enabled the EIB to be the first international finance institution to effectively end financing for coal and lignite power generation through adoption of a strict Emissions Performance Standard.

Ensuring a just energy transition

Ten EU countries face specific energy investment challenges. The EIB will work closely with the European Commission to support investment by a Just Transition Fund. The EIB will be able to finance up to 75% of the eligible project cost for new energy investment in these countries. These projects will also benefit from both advisory and financial support from the EIB.

New ambition for climate action and environmental sustainability

The EU bank has been Europe’s climate bank for a long time. Since 2012, the EIB provided EUR 150 billion of finance supporting EUR 550 billion of investment in projects that reduce emissions and help countries adapt to the impacts of climate change. This made the EIB one of the world’s largest multilateral providers of finance for projects supporting these objectives.

Today the EIB Board of Directors approved a new strategy for climate action and environmental sustainability. This includes three key elements:

• The EIB Group will aim to support EUR 1 trillion of investments in climate action and environmental sustainability in the critical decade from 2021 to 2030;
• The EIB will gradually increase the share of its financing dedicated to climate action and environmental sustainability to reach 50% of its operations in 2025 and from then on;
• The EIB Group will align all its financing activities with the principles and goals of the Paris agreement by the end of 2020. In the near future this will be complemented by measures to ensure EIB financing contributes to a just transition for those regions or countries more affected so that no one is left behind.

EIB Vice-President Emma Navarro, in charge of climate action and environment, said: “To meet the Paris climate goals we urgently need to raise our level of ambition and this is precisely what we have done today. Two weeks before the United Nations climate change conference in Madrid, these decisions send an important signal to the world: The European Union and its bank, the EIB, commit to mobilise investments on an unprecedented scale to support climate action projects around the world. In addition, we commit to align all EIB Group activities with the principles and goals of the Paris agreement by the end of 2020. Any financing that is not green will be made sustainable, according to the requirements of the Paris deal.”

The committee Chair and political groups’ coordinators will meet at 16:30 to assess the performance of the Commissioner-designate.

The right to move freely is highly valued by EU citizens and transport makes this possible, Ms Vălean said during her introductory speech. On the European Green Deal, Vălean said that it cannot be completed without transport at its core, but greening mobility must serve the citizens’ interests. While additional efforts are needed to reach carbon neutrality targets, this has to be economically feasible to be accepted by the people, she added. Digitalisation and automation entail huge changes for the sector, but this cannot come at a human cost, so greater focus on training and retraining is needed.

Green Deal, working conditions and connecting Europe

The Commissioner-designate said she would work on improving road safety and would push for the completion of the Single European Sky to reduce airspace congestion and emissions. She would make efforts to boost the uptake of clean vehicles and the deployment of publicly available refuelling and recharging points. Whereas the EU has a solid passenger rights framework, this also needs to be taken further, she said. On infrastructure investment, she said she would defend the Connecting Europe Facility budget for the next Multiannual Financial Framework.

MEPs of several groups questioned Ms Vălean on specific measures and initiatives she intends to bring forward in the context of the Green Deal, on measures to support workers in the sector and on how to improve transport connections in remote regions. Whereas some MEPs stressed the importance of completing the Single European Sky to cut emissions, others also asked whether she intends to support other measures such as the kerosene tax for the aviation sector and whether she intends to support climate-proofing projects financed by the EU.

Some MEPs also voiced concern that the Green Deal could lead to European businesses becoming less competitive and wanted to know how the Commission will support SMEs in this context.

Live replays

You can watch the video recording of the full hearing here.

Press point

At the end of the hearing, Transport and Tourism Committee Chair Karima Delli held a press point outside the meeting room: watch it here.

Next steps

Based on the committees’ recommendations, the Conference of Presidents will decide on 21 November if Parliament has received sufficient information to declare the hearing process closed. If so, the plenary will vote on whether or not to elect the Commission as a whole on 27 November, in Strasbourg.

The presidents and political groups’ coordinators from both committees will meet at 17.00 to assess the performance of the Commissioner-designate.

Digital, environmental and social challenges

In his introductory speech, Mr Breton spoke of the digital, environmental and social challenges the EU is facing and how he plans to address them during his mandate. The digital transformation and climate change will be high on his agenda, in line with President-elect Ursula von der Leyen’s priorities.

Mr Breton said that 5G, blockchain, Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, cloud and quantum technologies would enable the EU to be a “key industrial player”. He defended “ambitious industrial policies”, which should also be socially responsible, in order “not to leave anyone behind”.

Industrial and technological sovereignty

The Commissioner-designate stressed the need to regulate tech and cyber space, as well as to ensure that single market rules are properly implemented and that the EU collectively addresses the challenges arising from outside competition. “We have to work on our technological sovereignty”, he told MEPs. Measures to simplify SMEs’ and start-ups’ access to finance and to regulate digital platforms with a new Digital Services Act will also be among his tasks, he added.

MEPs questioned the French candidate on competition, technological sovereignty, the services sector and the challenges posed by new technologies. They also inquired how he will deal with such a broad portfolio and on possible conflicts of interests, especially how he intends to defend the general, instead of private, interests.

“I sold all my shares”, the former CEO of Atos tech company assured MEPs during his speech, committing to respect the Commission Code of Conduct and to recuse himself on issues that could entail a possible conflict of interest.

Members also put forward questions on ways to defend the European industry and defence sectors, and to ensure healthy and fair competition in Europe between SMEs and larger groups.

You can watch the video recording of the full hearing here.

Press point

At the end of the hearing, the Chair of the Internal Market Committee, Petra De Sutter (Greens/EFA, BE), and the acting Chair of the Industry Committee, Zdzisław Krasnodębski (ECR, PL), held a press point outside the meeting room: watch it here.

Next steps

Based on the committees’ recommendations, the Conference of Presidents will decide on 21 November if Parliament has received sufficient information to declare the hearing process closed. If so, the plenary will vote on whether or not to elect the Commission as a whole on 27 November, in Strasbourg.

November 14, 2019 European Trade Mark and Design Network

European Cooperation: the Estonian Patent Office digitises 55,000 dossiers

The Estonian Patent Office (EPA) has implemented the European Cooperation project ‘ECP5: Capture and Store Historical Files’.

The project, carried out with the support of the EUIPO’s European Cooperation Projects, aims to digitise paper files across the EU’s intellectual property offices to enable easy and rapid access to documentation and data related to trade mark and design dossiers.

Over 55,000 dossiers have been digitised and information from more than 2,000 decisions captured. The Estonian implementation started in April 2019 and was completed on 11 November 2019, two months ahead of schedule.

The EPA is the fifth office to implement the project. With another three offices in progress, the total number of digitised dossiers has now reached 400,000.

The main goal of the project is to support the participating offices in creating a paperless working environment and to help users interact digitally with intellectual property offices.

In total, the EUIPO and its stakeholders are collaborating on five major European Cooperation Projects, which aim to benefit users across the EU by providing modern, state-of-the-art tools and services for intellectual property offices.

November 14, 2019 Learning

Academy Learning Portal: the new design is finally here!

Have you noticed that the Academy Learning Portal has been updated?

Indeed, under the scope of the strategic project e-learning Portal – Next Generation, the Academy Learning Portal (ALP) has a completely new look and feel with some brand new features.

Now, your learning experience is more enjoyable than ever, thanks to the enhanced user experience.

• Look and feel: with fresh, clean-cut and content-focused design, the left-hand menu helps you navigate the Learning Portal more easily and interact better with courses that interest you by focusing on their content. You can also access the Personal Dashboard, Search and Course Catalogue via this menu.
• Carousels: this new feature on the home page that includes relevant courses will make browsing the ‘New’ and ‘Most Popular’ ones easier and more interactive than ever before.
• Advanced search: searching for courses in the ALP catalogue that most interest you is now easier, more flexible and faster. You can filter the results in just one click.
• You can pick your favourite courses and share them on social media!

Finally, the Academy Learning Portal now includes a new learning area under development dedicated to small and medium enterprises (SMEs), where they can gain experience and learn about their valuable assets.

Ready to learn? Stay tuned!