Boost for circular economy firms
Steps have been taken to help circular economy projects better secure investment.
It’s hoped that making €24bn of existing finance available to firms will also help to realise EU climate goals.
The announcement was made by the European Commission and the European Investment Bank (EIB) and builds upon the EU’s Circular Economy Strategy. The changes to the EU financial tools also result from EIB recommendations published at the ‘Financing the Circular Economy’ conference hosted under Luxembourg’s EU Council Presidency on Thursday.
Commenting, EIB President Werner Hoyer said the EU bank would continue to take action to aid investment decisions to develop a circular economy. He said: “We must enable the transition towards a circular economy to unlock sustainable growth without consuming more resources, or consuming them in a smarter way – our collective future and prosperity depend on that.”
An amendment to the InnovFin Delegation Agreement signed at the event is set to enable higher-risk, yet innovative sustainable business models and plans to access credit through InnovFin, an EU finance support programme under Horizon 2020 which was previously only available to innovative industrial and technology enterprises.
Adding his thoughts, European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Carlos Moedas said: “The circular economy has great potential to create a competitive advantage for Europe on a sustainable basis. I’m delighted to see that InnovFin, supported by Horizon 2020, has been improved to allow, from now on, support to circular economy projects.”
The EIB analysed the role of finance in the transition to a circular economy as part of an InnovFin advisory mandate for the European Commission and the Government of Luxembourg.
