European Investment Bank banned from offering investment funding for fossil fuel projects

NIGERIA is unlikely to attract any further investment from Europe into its oil and gas sector after the European Union (EU) announced that it would no longer fund investments in fossil fuel projects as from the end of this year.

 

In a radical measure aimed at cutting green house gas emissions and reducing the global carbon footprint, the EU is to stop funding oil, gas and coal projects at the end of 2021. This will mean it is saving €2bn (£1.7bn) of yearly investments into the sector, which will now be invested in other industries.

 

As a result, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EU's financing department, will bar funding for most fossil fuel projects. This ban will come into effect a year later than originally proposed after lobbying by EU member states that the suspension should be staggered so as not to affect ongoing projects.

 

With 95% of Nigerian federal government revenue coming from petroleum sales, the economy is dependent on attracting investment into the oil and gas sector. With this development, Nigeria is unlikely to attract any European investment into the sector as potential oil prospectors will be unable to secure funding.

 

Since 2013, the EIB has funded €13.4bn worth of fossil fuel projects, funding about €2bn worth of investments last year alone. Under the new policy, energy projects applying for EIB funding will need to show they can produce one kilowatt hour of energy while emitting less than 250 grams of carbon dioxide, a move which excludes traditional gas-burning power plants.

 

Gas projects are still possible but would have to be based on what the bank called new technologies such as carbon capture and storage, combining heat and power generation, or mixing in renewable gases with the fossil natural gas. Across the community, gas projects are fairly common in EU member states as they are seen as a cleaner alternative to coal and oil as countries transition away from using fossil fuels.

 

Andrew McDowell, the EIB's vice-president responsible for energy, said: "This is an important first step. This is not the last step."

 

Environmental organisations welcomed the EIB decision but said they were disappointed at the one-year delay. The EIB's decision comes after EU finance ministers last week unanimously backed the phasing out of funding of fossil fuel projects to help combat climate change.

 

Sebastien Godinot, an economist at the World Wildlife Fund, said: "Hats off to the European Investment Bank and those countries who fought hard to help it set a global benchmark today."

 

A decision on funding was planned last month but was postponed due to divisions within the bloc as some countries wanted gas funding to continue. This prompted Mr McDowell to write a letter to the bank's current 28 shareholders, the EU member states, on November 5, suggesting pushing back the originally proposed end of fossil fuel lending from the end of 2020 to end of 2021.

 

Mr McDowell said the EIB has ambitious goals on sustainable finance. He added that the bank wants to set the standard for what it meant for banks to be aligned with the Paris climate agreement.

 

Protests against fossil fuels have intensified in recent years, with activists from groups such as Extinction Rebellion demanding governments take urgent action to slash carbon emissions and halt biodiversity loss. Signed by 196 countries in 2015, the Paris Agreement is a legally binding international treaty on climate change, committing signatories to cutting greenhouse gases.

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