EIB takes part in World Circular Economy Forum 2025 in Brazil to foster competitiveness and sustainable growth

This article is published in association with European Investment Bank.

• EIB to participate in more than 10 sessions at WCEF 2025 from 13-16 May 2025 to discuss circular economy advances
• EIB financing for circular economy grows to record €1.4 billion in 2024
• EIB lending to circular economy projects amounts to €5.1 billion over the past five years

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is participating in the World Circular Economy Forum 2025 (WCEF 2025) from 13-16 May 2025 in São Paulo, Brazil, and online around the globe. The annual WCEF, an initiative of Finland and the Finnish Innovation Fund (Sitra), is one of the world’s leading events on the circular economy, which aims to make production and consumption more sustainable by extending the life cycle of resources, materials and goods.

The WCEF provides a platform for sharing knowledge and expertise, building networks and advancing the transition to a circular economy. This year’s edition will shed light on the bottlenecks to sustainable growth and the root causes that urgently require circular solutions.

The EIB, one of the biggest multilateral providers of climate and environment finance, will present to conference participants its array of financing and advisory products to develop and support the circular economy. The EIB will also discuss the role of the circular economy in securing the supply of strategic materials and the benefits of pursuing projects across entire value chains.

“We are stepping up our support for the circular economy in line with the European Union’s objectives that put circularity at the core of our decarbonisation strategy,” said EIB Vice-President Ambroise Fayolle. “In the past five years, we provided more than €5 billion to co-finance 153 circular economy projects in a variety of sectors. Circularity is key to conserve limited and strategic materials, enhance resilience and competitiveness and reduce our impact on the climate and the environment.”

EIB lending to circular economy projects has consistently increased over the years, amounting to €5.1 billion in 2020-2024, with a record level of €1.4 billion last year alone. Recently financed projects include a €17 million loan to Europe’s largest iPhone refurbisher Swappie, venture debt financing of €25 million to Fairmat, a French company pioneering the recycling of carbon fibre composite materials, and a €75 million loan to improve solid waste management in Benin.

Earlier this year, the EIB’s Board of Directors also approved an action plan to step up support for critical raw materials (CRM) with the aim of doubling annual financing for such projects – including circular solutions – to €2 billion. The plan also includes a new CRM Task Force and a dedicated one-stop shop to build and manage a pipeline of CRM operations and advisory activities and increased technical expertise and partnerships

Join the EIB at WCEF 2025

Vice-President Fayolle is leading the EIB’s participation, starting with a panel at the opening plenary on 13 May. In total, EIB experts will take part in more than 10 sessions. The full list of sessions with EIB speakers is available here.

People on site can meet staff of the EIB at its stand at the OCA in the Ibirapuera park in São Paulo on 13-14 May.

For interview requests, please reach out to the press contact below.

For more information about the EIB’s support to the circular economy visit: Circular economy (eib.org)

Background information  

EIB 

The European Investment Bank (ElB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. Built around eight core priorities, we finance investments that contribute to EU policy objectives by bolstering climate action and the environment, digitalisation and technological innovation, security and defence, cohesion, agriculture and bioeconomy, social infrastructure, high-impact investments outside the European Union, and the capital markets union.  

The EIB Group, which also includes the European Investment Fund (EIF), signed nearly €89 billion in new financing for over 900 high-impact projects in 2024, boosting Europe’s competitiveness and security.  

All projects financed by the EIB Group are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement, as pledged in our Climate Bank Roadmap. Almost 60% of the EIB Group’s annual financing supports projects directly contributing to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and a healthier environment.  

Fostering market integration and mobilising investment, the Group supported a record of over €100 billion in new investment for Europe’s energy security in 2024 and mobilised €110 billion in growth capital for startups, scale-ups and European pioneers. Approximately half of the EIB’s financing within the European Union is directed towards cohesion regions, where per capita income is lower than the EU average.

High-quality, up-to-date photos of our headquarters for media use are available here.