The Board of Directors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) approved 5.5 billion Euro of new financing to spur business investment, harness clean energy, upgrade schools, expand sustainable transport and fight forest fires.

“The EIB Board of Directors approved investment for an innovative gigafactory for electric car batteries, equipment to fight forest fires in southern Europe, construction of schools, and financing to enable small business and local transport to be more sustainable. We also agreed 230 million Euro financing to rebuild war-damaged homes across Ukraine.” said President Calviño.

The Board approved 3.7 billion Euro of financing to help companies reduce energy costs, improve environmental sustainability and support large-scale corporate innovation.

The innovation financing includes backing for a new gigafactory in Sweden to produce batteries for half a million electric cars a year and develop next-generation battery cells. It also includes support for pharmaceutical research to strengthen treatment of illnesses including heart conditions and cancer.

Other corporate-innovation projects will advance braking and steering technologies for autonomous driving, develop digital payment systems, and enable more sustainable production of specialist chemicals and materials.

The Board also approved EIB backing for new credit lines to help small businesses expand and create jobs, invest in climate action and increase activity in cohesions regions with partners in Italy and Portugal.

The EIB agreed to support development of two 50-megawatt renewable hydrogen production plants that will provide synthetic methane for road and maritime transport and district heating.

The EIB also approved financing for the development of two renewable-energy district heating systems in Finland to replace coal with biomass for warming homes and domestic hot water and construction of more than 1.5 gigawatts of solar power in Italy, Portugal and Spain.

Investment agreed today will upgrade a total of 177 city buses in France, to use hydrogen or electricity under a new local financing initiative.

The EIB agreed to finance new firefighting planes, helicopters and trucks for Greece to help tackle increasingly frequent forest fires.

New financing was agreed for upgrading schools used by more than 13,000 students in France.

The EIB Board agreed new support for the repair and rehabilitation of more than 11,500 war-damaged apartments across Ukraine as part of the continuous support for the Ukrainian Government’s National Recovery Plan and in line with the EU for Ukraine (EU4U) Initiative.

The financing will be used to repair war-damaged buildings, for people to return to their homes; reduce fuel costs and improve energy efficiency; and upgrade housing for internally displaced people. The initiative is coordinated with the World Bank and the German Organisation for International Cooperation (GIZ).