WIREDGOV

The European Commission and the Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) yesterday signed an InvestEU guarantee agreement worth up to €114 million. The agreement will unlock NIB financing of up to €480 million for investments in sustainable infrastructure, research, innovation and digitalisation across the Nordic and Baltic countries, as well as in Poland. This is expected to, in turn, mobilise public and private investments of around €2 billion in total.

With this agreement, NIB becomes an InvestEU implementing partner. NIB will use this guarantee agreement to mobilise investments in clean energy, the modernisation and decarbonisation of industry, critical raw materials supply, sustainable transport, environmental protection, bioeconomy, digital connectivity and sustainable data infrastructure. It will also support investments in projects relating to the sustainable blue economy, space, critical infrastructure, health and the development of innovative technologies across a range of sectors. The sectors which will be covered by this agreement fall under the InvestEU's “sustainable infrastructure” and “research, innovation and digitalisation” windows. These investments will help the EU to achieve its broader strategic objectives of securing the green and digital transitions.

At this stage, the EU guarantee under InvestEU can be used by NIB to support projects in Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Sweden. The first operations under the agreement are expected to be approved over the course of 2023.

InvestEU provides an EU budgetary guarantee to implementing partners to increase their risk-taking capacity and therefore contributes to mobilising public and private investment for the EU's policy priorities.

Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, yesterday said:

“InvestEU is a crucial tool in our efforts to advance successfully with the green and digital transitions of our economies. I am delighted that with this agreement the Nordic Investment Bank has become our implementing partner. Together, we can harness the full potential of InvestEU to channel investment towards green and digital projects, supporting sustainable growth and creating high-quality jobs across the Nordic and Baltic region.

The NIB President and CEO André Küüsvek yesterday said:

“The InvestEU guarantee agreement will help NIB to further mobilising financing to the green transition, with a focus on renewable energy, energy efficiency, decarbonisation of industry and the transport sector, but also on innovation and digitalisation. NIB's strategy is geared towards taking more risk and lend more to small and medium-sized and mid-cap companies, and the EU guarantee is exactly the right tool that fits this strategy.”

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