EIB mobilises capital markets for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB extends the scope of its Sustainability Awareness Bond to include two new social objectives: gender equality and women’s economic empowerment
• Bonds to be allocated to projects around the world providing finance for women and promoting gender equality
• EIB will harness capital markets for impactful gender investment

The European Investment Bank has announced the extension of its Sustainability Awareness Bond (SAB) to cover two new social objectives: “gender equality” and “women’s economic empowerment”. It comes ahead of International Women’s Day at the EIB Group Forum which has brought together partners from national finance ministries, and leaders from the public and private sectors for the gathering entitled, “Investing in a more sustainable and secure Europe.”

The proceeds from these bonds can now be allocated to projects around the world fostering access to finance for women, female entrepreneurship and promoting gender equality.

EIB President Nadia Calviño said: “Investing in women entrepreneurs and gender equality is not only the right thing to do but also the smart thing to do. Gender equality brings growth, prosperity to our economies.  The extension of our Sustainability Awareness Bond shows how we can mobilise capital markets and deploy sustainable finance to do this.”

Julie Becker, Chief Executive Officer of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, said: “We applaud the EIB’s decision to expand its Sustainability Awareness Bond Framework to include a gender dimension, and we hope many other issuers will take inspiration from this important move. Women play an essential role in driving societal progress and sustainable development. In the current context, marked by the rollback of gender equality programmes in certain regions, advancing financing for women has become more urgent than ever.”

Jessica Espinoza, Chief Executive Officer of 2X Global, said: “Capital markets have a pivotal role to play in mobilizing investments for gender equality. By adopting robust gender lens investing standards and criteria, such as the 2X Criteria, we can unlock gender-smart capital at scale and drive real change. These standards not only provide a unified framework for investors but also ensure that impact investments and gender-focused bonds truly deliver on their promises. As we’ve seen with the 2X Challenge, which has raised over $34 billion in gender lens investments since 2018, when we align capital with clear, measurable gender criteria, we can accelerate progress towards a more equitable world.”

Launched by the EIB in 2018, the Sustainability Awareness Bond builds on the success of the Bank’s pioneering Climate Awareness Bond by tackling a broader range of global challenges, spanning environmental objectives (beyond climate change mitigation) and social objectives. Funds raised with the SABs are allocated to impactful projects contributing substantially to objectives such as protecting biodiversity, ensuring access to clean water, education and health, and improving infrastructure like social and affordable housing. By combining accountability with measurable impact, the SABs empower investors to play a vital role in advancing sustainability worldwide.

With the newly added objectives, proceeds of Sustainability Awareness Bonds can also be allocated to EIB investments supporting for example:

• Female entrepreneurs and women-owned and -led Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises and midcaps, with projects in Kenya or France.
• SMEs and midcaps providing quality employment opportunities for women to promote gender diversity, with projects like in Armenia.
• Projects delivering products or services that close gender equality gaps or meet women’s and girls’ unique needs, like the production of maternal vaccine in Denmark.

The EIB is committed to advancing progress toward the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals focusing on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls. Research indicates that achieving gender parity in employment and pay could increase global GDP per capita by nearly 20%. To support this transformative potential, mobilizing capital markets is essential.

This is why the EIB is integrating gender-focused objectives into its Sustainability Awareness Bond’s framework. It requires robust and relevant eligibility criteria.

With a strong emphasis on transparency, these bonds provide detailed audited reporting on how funds are used and the results achieved, with reasonable assurance from a supervised auditor. The EIB gender eligibility criteria are aligned with the 2X Criteria, the EU Directive to improve gender balance (2022/2381) and the OECD-DAC Gender Equality Policy Marker.

While aligning with ICMA’s Sustainability Bond Guidelines, the EIB has structured the eligibility criteria for Sustainability Awareness Bonds to align with the logic of the EU Taxonomy.

For more information: Climate and Sustainability Awareness Bonds

Background information:

EIB

The EIB Group is the financing institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. All of its new operations are aligned with the Paris Climate Agreement since 2021. It supports investment contributing toward EU policy goals, including sustainable growth, social and territorial cohesion, innovation and security. It finances its operations in global capital markets and has been consistently profitable in its operations since its inception.

The EIB Group signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 projects in 2024. These commitments are expected to mobilise around €350 billion in investment, supporting 400 000 companies and 5.8 million jobs.   

The EIB launched the world’s first green bond in 2007. Thanks to its strategy of gradual alignment with the EU Taxonomy and the European Green Bond Standard initiated in 2018, the EIB has been increasing its issuance pace and passed the €100 billion mark of Climate Awareness Bond and Sustainability Awareness Bond issuance in August 2024. The EIB is the world’s largest issuer of green bonds as well as the largest issuer of green and sustainability bonds with assurance among multilateral development banks.

To enhance the positive impact of its activities on gender equality and empower women and girls, the EIB Group adopted a Strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment and a Gender Action Plan, with the aim of embedding gender equality and in particular women’s economic empowerment in the EIB’s business model. It covers its lending, blending and advisory work within and outside the European Union. The EIB Group is also committed to driving gender equality in the workplace.