European Investment Bank teams with ABN AMRO to support green shipping investments
The European Investment Bank and ABN AMRO have signed an agreement to support investments for greening the European shipping fleet. This framework is the first with a financial institution in the Netherlands.
The framework guarantee agreement will make that sure promoters of green projects in the maritime transport sector can benefit from favourable financial terms as a result of the EIB’s AAA rating. The facility is open for both retrofitting of existing shipping as well as for projects that envisage the construction of new vessels with a green innovation aspect and applies to both inland shipping and seagoing operators.
“The bank received a clear signal from the market that there was a financing gap for the greening of shipping fleets,” said EIB vice-president Pim van Ballekom. “By allowing the EIB to take more risk, the Investment Plan for Europe enabled us to create a new instrument to support shipping companies in complying with the European sustainability standards. This is the second agreement under a EUR750m EFSI Green Shipping Guarantee Programme, which was set up after numerous discussions with Dutch counterparts from the public and private sector. We are really looking to shipowners to make use of it so that we can implement it in other countries as well.”