Activities of David CORMAND related to 2022/2062(INI)
Plenary speeches (1)
Financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2022 - Control of the financial activities of the European Investment Bank - annual report 2022 (joint debate - European Investment Bank)
Opinions (1)
OPINION on the financial activities of the European Investment Bank – annual report 2022
Amendments (22)
Amendment 3 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. Reiterates its call for a capital increase and stresses that the European Investment Bank (EIB) mustand to maintain its ‘AAA’'AAA' high credit rating, and retain the confidence of the capital markefull confidence of the capital market in all its activities in light of its increasing role in implementing Union policies and within and outside the Union; expects the EIB to refrain from investments that could deter investors and increase its overall financing costs;
Amendment 6 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1 a (new)
Paragraph 1 a (new)
1 a. Stresses the fundamental role of the EIB as the EU’s public bank and the only international financial institution that is entirely owned by Member States and fully guided by EU policies and standards in supporting the social and economic recovery and targeting investments for attaining the EU’s objectives; notes that the EIB Group signed financing agreements totalling €72.5 billion in 2022
Amendment 8 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. Welcomes the financial assistance provided to Ukraine; ackages to Ukraine of 1.7 billion euros; takes note of the EIB’s needs assessment of 420 Billion EUR in the rapid damages and needs assessment conducted in cooperation with the World Bank ; calls for a continued thorough analysis of financial needs for Ukraine’s reconstruction and sustainable development prioritizing local needs, including of the war’s impact on the environment; expects, EIB to contribute to building back better with expertise (including Elena in particular) as well as additional lending in line with the Council Conclusions from 15 December 2022 and to be fully compatible with the EU’s climate and environmental objectives, especially by building energy efficient buildings and ensuring forests protection from logging as well as substantially contributing to the demining effort; reminds the EIB of the particular importance to carry out publicly available social and environmental impact assessments for projects, in particular those that may cause further damage and destruction of ecosystems, such as forestry, agriculture and hydropower projects; calls for a high degree of involvement of Ukrainian civil society in this regard and in particular for inclusion of civil society representatives in the Steering Committee for the Multi-agency Donor Coordination Platform; takes not of the specific measures already taken in Ukraine to ensure full regularity of the use of funds and expects the same standards to be upheld in future lending activities, especially as the financial flows are expected to increase considerably as well as to explore the possibility to use a war insurance mechanism
Amendment 15 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 a (new)
Paragraph 2 a (new)
2 a. Welcomes that 58% of all new EIB loans in 2022 will finance climate and environmental sustainability as well as a record issuance of €19.9 billion in green bonds or sustainability bonds;
Amendment 17 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2 b (new)
Paragraph 2 b (new)
2 b. Calls on the EIB to develop a methodology and an estimate of the green funding gap in the EU identifying potential funding sources (public/private) also;
Amendment 20 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. AwaitsLooks forward to the review of the Climate Bankd Roadmap ahead of COP28; expects it to make the EIB fully alignmented with the 1.5 degree pathway, including the exclusion of blue hydrogen infrastructure and road and highway financing, and the requirement to conduct; calls for an exclusion of road and highway financing, as well as fossil-based hydrogen infrastructures; reiterates its call for the review to include a solid assessment of less carbon- intensive alternatives and ‘Scope 3’ emissions; for each project; Recalls that the longstop date for non-Paris-aligned operations was the end of 2022, expects the EIB to report on all signatures taken since the adoption of the Climate Bank Roadmap;
Amendment 27 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. Calls foron the EIB’ to adapt its derisking architecture for green assets to be adapted to take account of the mixed records of commercial viability and the risks associated withof investments needed for climate transition, and to take stock of risks associated with directing concessional loans and public finance, with a view to improving the risk-reward ratios for projects with limited bankability 1; _________________ 1 D’Aprile, P., Engel, H., Helmcke, S., Hieronimus, S., Nauclér, T., Pinner, D., Van Gendt, G., Walter, D. and Witteveen, M., How the European Union could achieve net-zero emissions at net-zero cost, McKinsey & Company, December 2020.
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4 a (new)
Paragraph 4 a (new)
4 a. Calls on the EIB to support and improve the risk-reward ratios of investment in smaller scale green infrastructure projects. Invites the EIB to draw the lessons from the implementation of products such as the climate and infrastructure funds including the relevance of intermediated equity to achieve such objective
Amendment 31 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. Reiterates its call to work onlyhat the EIB should only work with clients and financial intermediaries that have a credible decarbonisation plans; opposes the exemptions granted under the Paris Alignment for Counterparties ( including short term targets compatible with 1,5 degree target put in place at the earliest, and by 2025 at the latest; calls on the EIB to systematically evaluate the credibility of the decarbonisation plans applying decarbonisation criteria compatible with 1,5 degree target before signing any new financial commitment; welcomes that the EIB’s clean energy financing reached a record €19.4 billion in 2022 as well as the decision to upscale the energy lending volume and to make loans more attractive; however, is extremely concerned about the exemptions granted under the PATH) framework in support of REPowerEUunder RepowerEU which will allow funding for companies with no decarbonisation plans and therefore increase oil drilling and engagement in the most polluting forms of unconventional fossil fuel production - coal mines and power plants, extracting oil from tar sands, drilling in the Arctic or fracking ; calls for a haltfull stop to fossil fuels financing; , in all forms;
Amendment 37 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 a (new)
Paragraph 5 a (new)
5 a. Stresses the key role of the EIB in a just transition; invites the EIB to support projects delivering affordable access to renewable energy, housing and public services, community-led initiatives, and small projects; calls on the EIB to lower the minimum loan size of individual projects or loan schemes; encourages the EIB to cooperate with national and regional financial institutions to deliver targeted financing;
Amendment 39 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 b (new)
Paragraph 5 b (new)
5 b. Calls on the EIB to scale up gender-smart climate financing;
Amendment 40 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 c (new)
Paragraph 5 c (new)
5 c. Recalls the role played by the EIB in the EU Raw Material Alliance and the Union’s ambition to ensuring a higher degree of autonomy of CRM supply; calls on the EIB to support CRM-related projects that aim first at avoiding any new mining processes and at recycling secondary raw material;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Paragraph 5 d (new)
Amendment 42 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 e (new)
Paragraph 5 e (new)
5 e. Welcomes the EIB’s Green Hydrogen Fund ambition to support the reduction of emissions from hard-to-abate sectors in developing countries through the development of renewable hydrogen, which should only serve that purpose; insists that additionality in those developing countries should be guaranteed so as to avoid the cannibalisation of existing renewable electricity used for direct electrification; underlines the importance of developing only renewable-based hydrogen in localised closed networks; is concerned about derisking private investments for large-scale green hydrogen projects for non-EU countries, in particular those aimed at export, in countries with alarming human rights track records, and where decisions on projects financed are unlikely to be taken with adequate degree of transparency, accountability and public participation;
Amendment 43 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 f (new)
Paragraph 5 f (new)
5 f. Expects to see enhanced public reporting on efforts and initiatives to mainstream nature in analyses and operations as well as specific reporting on nature positive investments in line with the commitments made by the EIB; expect the new forestry lending paper to ensure that EIB lending does not directly or indirectly contribute to deforestation or aforestation;
Amendment 44 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 g (new)
Paragraph 5 g (new)
5 g. Expects the EIB to apply stringent animal welfare standards to the projects it finances; calls for projects financed to fully respect animal welfare legislation, and to build on the example of the EBRD, clearly excluding harmful practices such as force-feeding of ducks and geese, and the keeping of animals for the primary purpose of fur production or any activities involving fur production;
Amendment 45 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5 h (new)
Paragraph 5 h (new)
5 h. Welcomes the decision reflected in the updated “Excluded Activities” to not finance the extraction of mineral deposits from the deep sea2a; is worried, however, that some projects financed by the Bank are disputable from an ecological and animal welfare point of view, for instance projects of large-scale industrial fish farming; calls for aquaculture projects to not remove more wild fish from the oceans for its feed requirements than it produces, and to not contribute to the degradation of the marine environment _________________ 2a EIB eligibility, excluded activities and excluded sectors list, 2022
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 6
Paragraph 6
6. Calls on EIB Global to deviseNotes that EIB Global signed 10.8 billion euros in new financing; reminds that EIB operations outside of Europe are based on the general principles guiding EU external action as set forth in Article 21 of the Treaty on the European Union, such as supporting democracy and the rule of law, human rights and fundamental freedoms; is of the opinion that EIB Global should also be accountable for compliance with the principles stated in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and Accra Agenda for Action (ownership, alignment, harmonisation, managing for results and mutual accountability); these principles should guide its operations as a public bank tasked with a development mandate; calls on EIB Global to develop a strategy centred on clear development additionality, as well as sustainable development agenda including solid human rights and environmental standards, and to include civil society organisations in that process; calls on the EIB to address the global consequences of the Russian aggression in this context with a particular focus on supply chain for food and sustainable access to food across the globe; calls on the EIB to encourage member states to invite their respective Development Ministries to take part in the EIB Global's Board Advisory Group; reiterates its call for EIB global to limit blending operations to areas where they can add value to the local economy, while excluding blended finance from essential public services, particularly health, education and social protection, as the monetisation of those sectors could widen already existing inequalities and jeopardise the universal access to those services; expects the EIB to pay particular attention to ensure a forced-labour free supply chain in its operations; calls on the EIB Global to increase its support to projects with limited bankability and high public return, and to lower the minimum loan size of individual projects, in particular in LDCs;
Amendment 54 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 7
Paragraph 7
7. Is concerned that the EIB has, at least once,Notes that over the last few years, the majority of cases dealt with by the EIB Complaints Mechanism related to projects outside of the EU; reiterates its call on the EIB to ensure that the complaints mechanism is accessible, effective and independent in order to detect and redress any possible human rights violations in EIB related projects; is concerned that, in at least one occurrence, the EIB failed to conduct a full inquiry into allegation a case of alleged practices of bribery and misuse of funds involvingby a financial intermediary outside of the EU; calls on the EIBBank to reopen all such casthe case led through the Complaints Mechanism and to assess whether there was any breach of the anti-fraud policy, due to the reputational risks such cases could pose, also considering the social consequences that unfolded for local communities;
Amendment 63 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 8
Paragraph 8
8. Takes note of the information note on the EIB’s human rights approach2; calls for clear and binding rules, in particular on human resources due diligencerecent EIB note on its approach on human rights while pointing to the fact that there is no clear stance on when it should step in to resolve an issue or disengage from a project, or recover loans or investments, nor does it engage to external consultations despite repeated calls from the Parliament; calls for clear and binding rules, in particular on assessment and disengagement to complement the note; reminds that the integration of human rights into its due diligence procedures, human rights impact assessments, and ondisengagement; _________________ 2 EIB, The European Investment Bank’s approach to human rights, information note, Luxembourg, 6 February 2023.the need for the EIB’s general human rights commitment to be anchored in a responsibility to respect human rights and expresses particular concern that since 2015, no standalone human rights impact assessments have been required by the EIB to be carried out by promoters; furthermore reiterates its call on EIB Global to ensure inclusive and meaningful consultation and engagement with communities impacted by its projects prior to their approval and throughout project implementation; underlines that specific measures should be implemented to include indigenous peoples, women, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable groups during the consultations;
Amendment 67 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9
Paragraph 9
9. Is concerned that the transparency and harm prevention of EIB intermediated investments have fallen behind other public financial institutions,EIB falls behind other public financial institutions in terms of transparency, and in ensuring no harm is done by the Bank’s intermediated investments rating only fair on the 2022 Aid Transparency Index 3; recalls that the EIB’s 2021in 2021 EIB adopted newTransparency Policy runscounter to the presumption of disclosure as it entails that the Bank should think of its client interest first and then apply the grounds of refusal in a manner that concords with these interests and hence not aligned with applicable exceptions listed in 1049/2001 and 1367/2006; urges the EIB to swiftlyimplement immediatelythe European Ombudsman’s recommendations of 21 April 20224. on the need for the EIB to adopt a ‘more ambitious approach to its disclosure practice’, to act in line with EU transparency laws, and to be more transparent with regard to the potential environmental impact of the projects it finances and in particular more information about any financial intermediary sub-projects that have a significant impact on the environment4; _________________ 3 Publish What You Fund, 2022 Aid Transparency Index, 2022. 4 Decisions of the European Ombudsman of 21 April 2022 in Cases 1065/2020/PB, 1251/2020/PB and 1252/2020/PB.
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 9 a (new)
Paragraph 9 a (new)
9 a. Expresses concerns about health and safety at work and calls on the EIB to take all the necessary measures in consultation with representatives of the employees to significantly ameliorate the situation;