Investment Plan’s Advisory Hub supports green urban development in German cities

• The European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) will provide a grant of up to €500 000 to Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB) to strengthen municipal support for investment projects in priority sectors such as energy and resource efficiency, the circular economy and green urban development.
• TAB will help cities in Thuringia to prepare and structure investment projects enhancing the use of both public and private resources.
• With the EIB’s support, TAB will develop an online tool enabling municipalities to perform economic efficiency analyses and identify sound investment projects.

Today, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Thuringian Development Bank, Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB), signed a grant agreement funded by the European Investment Advisory Hub. The Advisory Hub supports the development of advisory capacities and the local delivery of advisory services through a dedicated call for proposals for national promotional banks and institutions. The agreement aims to address the needs of Thuringian municipalities for support in the preparation of sustainable and financially viable projects using various sources of funding and financing.

Thanks to the funding support of the European Investment Advisory Hub, TAB will help municipalities to initiate, plan and implement infrastructure investments in key sectors. It will also create an online tool to perform economic efficiency analyses of projects, helping to improve their soundness.

In addition, the advisory support provided by TAB will involve capacity building and knowledge sharing activities. The objective is to reinforce municipalities’ internal capacity to structure and deliver sustainable investment projects for the benefit of local residents.

European Commissioner for the Economy, Paolo Gentiloni, said: “Thanks to a grant by the Investment Plan for Europe’s Advisory Hub, Thüringer Aufbaubank in Germany will help municipalities to plan and implement infrastructure investments in key sectors like energy and resource efficiency and the circular economy. The project shows the benefits of tailored advisory support and technical assistance to project promoters in accelerating the green transition to the benefit of cities and their inhabitants.”

EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle, responsible for climate and environment and for the Bank’s activities in Germany, said: “Today’s funding agreement, supported by the European Investment Advisory Hub, underpins the importance of advisory services to deliver climate-friendly investments. As the EU climate bank, we are particularly pleased that many of the targeted projects will be in pursuit of this agenda. This cooperation is an example of how the EIB, together with its partners, can deliver flexible and bespoke support to projects of various sizes. Working together we can deliver on EU priorities and improve people’s lives.”

“Through the newly created advisory approach funded by the EIB, we can counteract municipal problems,” said TAB‘s Chief Executive Officer Matthias Wierlacher. “In future, we will not only succeed in initiating municipal investments, but also in promoting and financing them.”

Background information

About the Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB)

The Thüringer Aufbaubank (TAB) submitted a corresponding application and was approved by the EIB. This required a preliminary study, an assessment of needs in the municipalities and the preparation of an advisory concept.

TAB has been an important partner of the Thuringian municipalities for many years. In order to be able to continue offering precisely tailored funding and financing in the future, it is vitally important to know the actual needs. For this reason, the development bank of the Free State of Thuringia has begun to conduct its own survey of Thuringia’s cities, municipalities and districts.

The detailed results report (Kommunalmonitor 2020) is available here: www.aufbaubank.de/kommunalmonitor

About the European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH)

The European Investment Advisory Hub (EIAH) is a partnership between the European Investment Bank and the European Commission under the Investment Plan for Europe. The EIAH acts as a single access point to various types of advisory and technical assistance services. It supports the identification, preparation and development of investment projects across the European Union. Building local partnerships across Europe has been a priority of the EIAH since its launch in 2015. Today, the EIAH partner network includes more than 40 local institutions, with almost 30 formal agreements signed with national promotional banks and institutions (NPBIs) and other partners. Through a dedicated call for proposals, the EIAH made funding and technical support available to NPBI partners to develop their capacity to deliver advisory services locally and boost investments on the ground. Watch a short video on the EIAH’s support to Climate Action projects.

About the European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union (EU) owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and beyond. The European Investment Bank is active in around 160 countries and is the world’s largest multilateral lender for climate action projects. The EIB Group has recently adopted its Climate Bank Roadmap to deliver on its ambitious agenda to support €1 trillion of climate action and environmental sustainability investments in the decade to 2030 and to deliver more than 50% of EIB finance for climate action and environmental sustainability by 2025. As part of the Roadmap, all new EIB Group operations will also be aligned with the goals and principles of the Paris Agreement as of this year.