Romania is modernizing its water infrastructure to tackle climate change with advisory support from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
The EIB will provide advisory services to the Romanian Investment and Development Bank (BID) for national water infrastructure strengthening plans.
A new consultancy agreement will facilitate access to financing for climate-resilient water and wastewater projects. The agreement includes institutional capacity building and project-related advisory services.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide advisory services to the Romanian Investment and Development Bank (BID) to strengthen water networks across the country. Under a new consultancy services agreement, the EIB will offer advisory support and institutional capacity-building activities to the Investment and Development Bank, aiming to develop climate-resilient water and wastewater infrastructure in Romania.
Romania intends to modernize its outdated water system infrastructure to address increasing climate risks—including more frequent droughts and floods—while ensuring compliance with European Union environmental legislation.
The consultancy agreement was signed today at the annual EIB Forum in Luxembourg, based on a request from BID, which seeks to strengthen its capacity to assess, structure, and monitor water projects that enhance long-term climate resilience.
The EIB is one of the largest global investors among international financial institutions in the water sector and has been an important supporter of Romania’s initiatives in this area over time. The new agreement with EIB Advisory will strengthen BID’s role as a national financial intermediary, helping to transform Romania’s climate adaptation and water management strategies into bankable investments fully aligned with EU legislation and EIB standards.
“As the EU’s climate bank, the EIB is committed to supporting strong national institutions capable of turning public policy ambitions into high-impact, high-quality investments. Through this advisory partnership, we strengthen the financial and technical capacity of the Investment and Development Bank to efficiently assess, structure, and supervise climate-resilient water projects, ensuring full alignment with EU standards and generating lasting benefits for citizens and communities,” said EIB Vice President Ioannis Tsakiris.
The role of EIB Advisory will help unlock financing, especially for small municipalities and regional water operators in Romania, by promoting innovative infrastructure, including systems that integrate nature-based solutions with traditional engineering—so-called green-grey infrastructure. Advisory support can accelerate bringing investments to market.
“Through our long-term partnership with the European Investment Bank, we strengthen BID’s role as a national financial intermediary capable of supporting complex water and wastewater infrastructure investments across Romania. By improving our capacity to assess, prepare, and monitor projects, we aim to facilitate access to high-quality financing, especially for regional water operators and smaller municipalities. This advisory support from the EIB will help us standardize processes, improve the coherence and bankability of project portfolios, and fully integrate climate resilience criteria and the ‘Do No Significant Harm’ principle throughout the investment cycle—from identification to implementation and performance monitoring,” said Raluca Nicolescu, General Director, BID Romania.
Under the agreement, EIB Advisory will work with BID to strengthen project assessment and preparation processes, improve integration of climate resilience criteria, and ensure compliance with EU legislation and the European environmental principle of “Do No Significant Harm.”
The objective is to expand expertise in financial and technical assessment of water and wastewater investments, strengthen environmental and social standards, monitoring frameworks, and improve governance and oversight mechanisms throughout the investment cycle—from project identification to implementation and performance monitoring.
The advisory support will also enhance coordination between BID and regional water operators by providing standardized tools, guidelines, and training programs. This will increase the quality and coherence of project portfolios proposed for financing and accelerate investments that strengthen climate resilience and sustainable water resource management nationwide.
The agreement complements the EIB’s global engagement in the water sector, including a commitment to invest €15 billion worldwide between 2025–2027 to strengthen water security, sustainability, and climate resilience.
Context Information
EIB Group
The European Investment Bank (EIB) Group is the EU’s long-term financing institution, owned by EU member states. In 2025, the EIB Group signed new financing worth €100 billion for over 870 high-impact projects across eight key priorities supporting EU policy goals: climate action and environment, digitalization and technological innovation, security and defense, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, strong global partnerships, and the union of economies and investments.