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  • The European Investment Bank (EIB) provides €250 million to Rabobank to support sustainable entrepreneurs with “impact loans” under favourable conditions.
  • Rabobank will match this amount in providing green-loans with Climate Action impact.
  • The facility follows five earlier “impact loans”, for a total of EUR 850m, that have supported over 470 Dutch SMEs and more than 20 different sectors.

Rabobank and the European Investment Bank (EIB) are launching the sixth in their series of “impact loans” to support sustainable entrepreneurship in the Netherlands. So far, over 470 environmentally conscious businesses in the Netherlands have already benefitted from advantageous lending conditions of the EIB-backed impact loans with the Rabobank, which first started in 2015. The impact loans are available to entrepreneurs and SMEs that hold one of the selected sustainability labels, certifying their commitment and effort towards making their businesses socially and environmentally sustainable.

Kirsten Konst, Director Business Clients and member of the Managing Board, said: “Sustainability is an important pillar in the strategy of Rabobank. We believe it is becoming increasingly important for all of our clients to invest in their sustainable future. Rabobank is proud to continue the successful partnership with EIB  to support clients in making that step forward with this next launch of impact loans.”

"Once the immediate challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic will be behind us, the threat of climate change will still be looming in the background,” said EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters. “This is the sixth instalment of our series of ‘impact loans’ with Rabobank, which reward entrepreneurs that are making real efforts to become greener. The continued success of these loans tells us that, also in light of the Paris agreements, doing green business is making economic sense.”

Impact loans are available to entrepreneurs who are frontrunners in their sector, are demonstrably engaged in corporate social responsibility and possess one of the selected sustainability labels. Applications for an impact loan have to meet the normal conditions of the EIB and Rabobank. Impact loans are available for businesses with up to 3,000 employees. The total investment may not exceed 25 million euros and the loan principal is capped at 7.5 million euros. The final loan approval decision rests with Rabobank.

Background information:

The EIB is owned directly by the EU Member States – the Netherlands owns 5.2% of its shares – and is, therefore, able to make extremely cheap loans available on the capital market. This enables the EIB to provide long-term financing for solid investments which contribute to the EU’s policy goals. The EIB made approximately €1.9 billion available in loans for projects in the Netherlands in 2020.

Rabobank is an international financial services provider operating on the basis of cooperative principles. It offers retail banking, wholesale banking, private banking, leasing and real estate services. As a cooperative bank, Rabobank puts customers’ interests first in its services. Rabobank is committed to being a leading customer-focused cooperative bank in the Netherlands and a leading food and agri bank worldwide. Rabobank employed 43,272 per 31 December 2020. Rabobank Group is active in 38 countries.