This is a timely reminder, if needed, of the value and wide ranging scope of EIB investment in sustainable infrastructure across Europe.  

Since joining the EU in 1973 the UK’s infrastructure has been the beneficiary of more than £118bn of lending from the EIB including expansion of Manchester tram network and Scotland's Beatrice offshore wind farm.  Funding which the UK will lose access to after Brexit.

Many across the industry have been calling for the establishment of a UK infrastructure bank or other domestic alternative to replace the EIB following Brexit and the need for this to form part of the National Infrastructure Strategy.  

It would not be an entirely novel move for the UK Government who launched the Green Investment Bank in 2012, an innovative publicly funded bank designed to mobilise private finance into the green energy sector.  Between 2012 and 2017, the Green Investment Bank helped to finance more than £12bn of UK green infrastructure projects.  The Bank was sold and continues to focus on the sector albeit that it is now in private hands and independent of UK Government control.

As Brexit draws ever closer and the need for sustainable infrastructure projects rises to meet "Net Zero" targets we could well see it seems increasingly support for a form of UK infrastructure bank or equivalent UK funding facility.  This will not be a silver bullet for delivery of UK sustainable infrastructure but plugging the EIB gap will be seen by many as part of the solution to ensure access to funding is not a blocker for those novel low carbon projects that might otherwise be unable to obtain affordable finance in the market.