The European Union's investment arm said Thursday it will stop funding fossil fuel projects from 2022 as part of a new strategy aimed at fighting climate change, in a decision environmental campaigners hailed as a "significant victory".
The European Investment Bank, the world's largest multilateral lender, had been criticised by climate groups for funding gas projects that potentially threatened the EU's commitment to the Paris climate goals.
But despite gas proving a potential sticking point, the EIB's board of directors—composed of state representatives and the European Commission—approved the new energy policy on Thursday.
"We will stop financing fossil fuels, and we will launch the most ambitious climate investment strategy of any public financial institution anywhere," EIB President Werner Hoyer said in a statement.
The EIB said the new energy plan would also "unlock" one trillion euros ($1.1 trillion) of climate action and environmentally sustainable investment over the next decade.
[...] Nineteen EU member states including France and Germany voted for the new policy, according to Greenpeace and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF).
But three countries—Poland, Romania and Hungary—voted against, wanting more flexibility for gas funding, as did Estonia, Lithuania, Cyprus and Malta, which abstained.
Austria and Luxembourg also abstained, objecting to nuclear power being eligible for funding under the new policy, Greenpeace and the WWF said.
The European Commission said it supported the new policy, and it voted in favour.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 17 2019, @09:39PM (2 children)
If the words "total rebuild of infrastructure" do not ring a bell, then the process you're indulging in cannot be named "thinking" even under the most lenient of definitions.
Do make note that no natural catastrophe and no shooting war in the history of this planet ever caused an amount of damage that would require anything even remotely approaching that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 18 2019, @12:23AM (1 child)
Tell that to the ca. 1945 (former) residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Monday November 18 2019, @11:20PM
How many of the seven billion people alive today is that again? It's not even one part in a thousand.