The FINANCIAL — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, arranged close to one billion dollars’ worth of climate-smart investments in Europe and Central Asia in the latest fiscal year, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and increasing energy efficiency and renewable energy production to spur sustainable growth.
IFC committed a record $543 million of its own funds and mobilized another $429 million from other investors for 21 climate-smart projects in five countries. In fiscal year 2015, which ended June 30, some 35 percent of IFC’s long-term investments in ECA – 45 percent including mobilized funds – sought to minimize or reduce the impact of climate change.
These projects helped avoid 0.78 million tons of CO2 emissions, the equivalent of taking 164,000 cars off the road for a year, while reducing local air pollution and the associated health risks, according to IFC.
“These days, climate change mitigation is more important than ever, as it reduces the impact of major disasters, sparks economic growth, and encourages shared prosperity,” said Patrick Avato, IFC’s Climate Change Lead for ECA. “Mitigating climate change is a strategic priority for IFC in this region and around the world. These record totals in Europe and Central Asia underscore our commitment and highlight the great opportunity, and the crucial impact, of climate-smart investments.”
IFC committed $163 million and mobilized another $265 million for three green hospital developments in Turkey. One, near the capital, Ankara, will be the world’s largest healthcare campus, with eight hospitals, at a cost of €1.1 billion. IFC also acquired a 27 percent stake in Turkey’s Gama Energy and invested $95 million in Hexagon, a waste management company in Turkey that converts municipal solid waste into fertilizer.
In Croatia, IFC provided a €42.5 million loan for a 34-megawatt wind farm outside Dubrovnik. In two years, IFC has backed three wind farms in Croatia, boosting the country’s renewable energy production capacity by nearly 50 percent (adding 108 megawatts) to reduce import dependence and help meet EU targets.
Finally, IFC made a landmark $80 million loan to Turkey’s Odeabank to finance green mortgages and encourage sustainable energy investment in building construction, and made its first co-lending portfolio program mobilizations for energy efficiency projects, with Yapi Kredi and Finans Leasing.
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