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EUR12 million for Slovenian deal to cut Danube pollution
EBRD loan to Bank Austria Creditanstalt unit is 2nd under environment facility
The EBRD is lending €8 million now – and eventually €12 million if market
demand proves as robust as expected – to Bank Austria Creditanstalt d.d.
Ljubljana for projects aimed at reducing water pollution flowing into the
Slovenian portion of the Danube River Basin.
It is the second project under a facility in which the EBRD has committed up
to €45 million to commercial local banks for on-lending to local borrowers for
environmental investment projects related to the Danube, while the Global
Environment Facility (GEF) has committed $9.9 million in grant financing and
for technical assistance.
The aim of the facility is to promote environmental investments by
private-sector companies and smaller municipalities. GEF provides financial
incentives needed to overcome barriers to environmental investment. For
example, upon successful completion of a project and after examination by an
independent expert, borrowers receive a completion fee; participating banks,
meanwhile, receive fees to cover costs associated with implementing the
facility. In addition, companies and municipalities may receive assistance in
developing solutions to water-pollution problems. These services are provided
by the EBRD’s TurnAround Management Group and Business Advisory Services
programmes. The additional environmental assistance is co-financed by GEF.
GEF is a facility established by the World Bank, UNDP and UNEP as a mechanism
for international cooperation to provide grant and concessional funding for
measures to achieve agreed global environmental benefits. Typical areas of GEF
focus are biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land
degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Since its
creation in 1991, the GEF has allocated $4.5 billion in grants to support more
than 1,200 projects in 140 developing nations.
The facility for Slovenia is a pilot project designed for further replication
in other Danube River Basin countries.
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