This global conference on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (Cop 22) in Marrakech, Morocco, battered by the shock of the US election results and the wavering mood of some major polluting countries, provided an opportunity for a new bulwark in defence of the climate to come to the fore: the European Investment Bank.

Shortly before the start of Cop 22, the European Investment Bank held its annual conference in Rabat. The EIB is today the largest international climate fund, with nearly 100 billion euros committed. This is not a widely known effort, but one that draws on very significant financial firepower of around 80 billion euros a year, placing it at the forefront among multilateral financial institutions.

Román Escolano, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank, stated in an exclusive interview with La Tribune:

The bank has made a long-term commitment on climate issues, in line with the guidelines set by the EU in 2009 to make Europe a model for preventing and combating climate change. This is underscored by the strategy adopted in September 2015 in preparation for Cop 21 in Paris. A complex, ambitious and cross-cutting strategy, because it concerns all sectors of the bank's activity, encompassing all the efforts we are prepared to make to begin the transition to the new low-carbon economy. In addition, we have made a strong commitment to spend 35 per cent of our budget in developing countries, to act against global warming. So, these 100 billion euros in financing are the result of the intersection of these two parameters: our scale and our assumption of responsibility for the climate.

Among the projects already financed by the EIB are the desalination plant in Gaza, the Ouarzazate solar complex in Morocco itself, the wind turbines in Tangier, the remediation of Lake Bizerte, north of Tunis, worth 90 million euros, and they are now launching the idea of an accelerated action plan for the climate in the Mediterranean. Ambassador Laurence Tubiana even mentioned the idea of a Marshall Plan for the Mediterranean climate.

At Cop 22, Monica Scatasta, head of climate, environmental and social policies at the EIB, gave an interview to Agenzia Nova in which she stressed that the European Investment Bank (EIB) is actively looking for projects to finance.

Action against climate change will increasingly be at the heart of the European Investment Bank's (EIB) policies, and by 2020 will account for a 35 per cent share of loans in support of developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Financing volumes for climate action reached around 21 billion euros in 2015, equivalent to 27 per cent of the amount of loans extended in support of developing countries in the Middle East and North Africa area. By 2020 we want to reach 35 per cent.
We do not lack funds, but we need reliable investment programmes and projects that take climate change into account.
If we want to achieve the Paris goals, the next 3–5 years will be crucial: we must set ourselves on a new path, a path of reducing emissions into the atmosphere.

The institution is today the world's leading financier in the renewable energy sector and took part in Cop 22 to share its experience with policymakers, officials and non-governmental organisations.

On the sidelines of the Climate Conference, the EIB launched, together with Bmce – Bank of Africa, a credit line of 150 million euros to strengthen support for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and finance environment-related projects in the industrial and services sectors. The aim is to facilitate access to "tailor-made financing" with longer and more flexible maturities. As one of Morocco's principal donors — a country that leads the region in clean energy — the EIB has allocated nearly 7 billion euros in investment to support projects in key sectors of the Moroccan economy: from energy to transport, from water resources to healthcare, from education to social housing, from industry to small and medium-sized enterprises.

The renewable energy sector in Morocco has succeeded in attracting ever more foreign investors in recent years. According to a report by Havas Worldwide, which analysed the intentions of international investors for the period from 2016 to 2020 in Africa, this sector will remain the most attractive for foreign capital intending to invest on the African continent over the next four years.