The EIB in the city: Investment on the agenda by Greg Clark, Tim Moonen and Jake Nunley

“City, transformed” has shown how Europe’s cities have 
developed over the last 50 years. The European Investment Bank 
has adapted alongside them, building a greater, more focused 
role in urban development that takes it into truly innovative 
areas. Future cities need to face up to challenges in climate, 
productivity, knowledge, social mobility and resilience.  
Here’s how the EU bank is setting up to be a partner on that path.

Introduction
 Europe’s cities are key hubs of employment, trade and population. They also host much of the innovative advantage 
of the European Union’s Member States, in the knowledge economy, climate change action and social cohesion. 
Unlocking potential and progress in Europe’s cities requires investment. Investment enables cities to re-calibrate 
towards new requirements. For more than 50 years, as the EU’s main long-term financing arm, the European 
Investment Bank has been an indispensable investor in the urban revival of Europe’s cities. In the last three decades 
especially, the Bank has established itself as Europe’s largest investor in urban road, metro, housing and power 
projects. These coincided with and contributed to a long, successful and somewhat unanticipated process of re-
urbanisation, urban growth and urban success across Europe.
 The EIB’s long-standing remit has been to broaden the financing base for infrastructure investment, energy, 
technology, enterprise and urban development in the public interest, and to provide more depth and capacity 
to the financial services sector where it serves these aims. The EIB’s evolving role in urban investment since the 
mid-1980s is shaped and informed by agreements and principles established during successive EU Presidencies 
(e.g. Amsterdam 1997, Lille 2000, Bristol 2005, Leipzig 2007, Toledo 2010), culminating in the adoption of an Urban 
Agenda for the EU through the Pact of Amsterdam in 2016. As more attention has been drawn to particular urban 
development challenges and the need for a multi-level governance approach to address them, the EIB’s financial 
and advisory toolkit has expanded and matured. The Bank has had a substantive impact, providing different kinds 
of cities (small, large, growing or shrinking) with the capital they need to transform, better serve their citizens, 
and, address new issues. 
The EIB’s approach to cities has unfolded in five broad cycles: 
1. Cycle 1 (1988-1996): the first EU urban pilot projects and EIB loans focused on urban heritage, environmental 
improvements, and inter-city transport.
 2. Cycle 2 (1997-2000): the emergence of integrated urban development programmes that utilised new EIB 
framework loans to deliver combined projects including housing renewal and broad-based urban infrastructure.
 3. Cycle 3 (2001-2006): the increase in capital provision and technical assistance for new Member States to support 
EU enlargement, and the emergence of advisory services such as Joint Assistance to Support Projects in 
European Regions, known as JASPERS.
 4. Cycle 4 (2007-2013): the rise of a sustainable cities agenda, the diversification of the EIB’s toolkit of financial 
instruments, and the post-crisis imperative to support economic transition.
 5. Cycle 5 (2014-2020): increased momentum to serve a comprehensive urban agenda, enabled by an expansion 
of EIB financial tools.

 Over these cycles, three main changes have taken place. Firstly, EIB investment has become less sectoral, with an 
increasing focus on integrated urban development. Secondly, as EU policy focused more explicitly on cities, so 
too has the Bank’s investment activity. Finally, financial tools have become more diverse. The range of instruments 
has increased from investment and framework loans to cover urban development funds, equity investment funds, 
and, increasingly, intermediated loans and guarantee arrangements. Over these cycles, the EIB’s role in technical 
assistance and advisory functions has grown steadily. It has become a knowledge bank for cities, as well as a 
financial institution.

The EIB in the city: Investment on the agenda by Greg Clark, Tim Moonen and Jake Nunley