Environmental, Social, and Governance Assets

This chapter presents a historical overview of the emergence and evolution of ESG assets and, in particular, analyses the main market trends that have been observed in recent years in relation to these assets. The authors intend to present a summary of the main moments and phases that these assets have gone through, from the moment of their appearance in 2007, the year in which the European Investment Bank carried out its Climate Awareness Bond as a test issuance. The movement associated with the issue of these assets is initiated by supranational entities with little homogeneity and no fixed conventions. To overcome this impasse, the green bond principles emerged and a process of defining the characteristics of these assets began, with a particular focus on transparency and the governance process. From this stage onwards, the market showed interest in these financial products and hence the emergence of a harmonising movement regarding green bond standards in which Europe seems to have taken a leading role.

European international financial organizations are investors in the real sector of Ukraine’s economy

The article highlights the historical aspects of Ukraine's cooperation with two international financial institutions, which provide Ukraine with significant credit resources: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank. The structure of these institutions, the purpose of their work, means and methods of achieving the goals defined in the statutory documents were considered. The cooperation of Ukraine with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank on the implementation of investment projects in the public and private sectors was studied, the peculiarities of the project implementation were analysed and the factors that impact low disbursement were investigated. Attention is drawn to the importance of using investments from international financial organizations in full and the importance of further close cooperation with institutions that provide credit resources to Ukraine in periods when the state does not actively cooperate with the IMF. Generalised suggestions for improving Ukraine's cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank were prepared, separately for each bank, the steps that need to be taken to increase the disbursement of loans for investment projects implemented in Ukraine with international financial organizations were listed.

3. The institutions of the European Union

This chapter discusses the role and composition of the institutions of the EU. These include the European Council, the Council, the Commission, the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the General Court, the Court of Auditors, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), the Committee of the Regions (COR), the European Investment Bank and the European Central Bank. This chapter also discusses the EU’s associated bodies or agencies as well as their respective roles and the ways in which they interrelate with the EU institutions.

The European Investment Bank and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank

This chapter attempts to complement existing scholarly work by taking a holistic and contextual view of the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). It addresses the following questions: How are the business fundamentals of the EIB and AIIB organized so as to fulfil their broader objectives? How are they ‘equipped’ to meet the requested increased objectives and face the current and future challenges? What role do these two institutions play in the regional development bank (RDB) field? And what are their future prospects in this field? In attempting to answer these questions this chapter follows a synthetic approach by initially investigating each RDB individually as an organizational entity and subsequently as an actor in the field of RDB. In order to analyse the EIB and AIIB as organizations, this chapter employs a novel mechanism developed by the author with recourse to Business Models and the Theory of Fields.

The European Investment Bank

The European Investment Bank (EIB) constitutes one of the main institutional pillars upon which the European Union (EU) was built. Strikingly, the institution has attracted little research. EIB Statutes can be condensed down to five overarching objectives that its lending should prioritize: originally, development, integration and investment, and, since the mid-1990s, environmental protection and tackling unemployment. This chapter provides a comprehensive qualitative analysis of EIB lending to Europe from its origins to the present and examines the Bank’s loans in light of its lending objectives. We find a watershed moment occurring at the end of the Cold War. Until the 1990s, the EIB promoted integration and development above the alleviation of capital constraints. Since then, however, there was a progressive ‘mechanization’ of EIB loans at the expense of securing the institution’s mission, to the extent that loans were increasingly associated with capital subscribed by its members. This could mean that the EIB mission as found in its Statutes and its lending practice is becoming increasingly misaligned.

Leveraging Policy Steer? Industrial Policy, Risk-Sharing, and the European Investment Bank

This chapter focuses on the European Investment Bank and the Juncker Plan in terms of its impact on industrial policy and state-market relations. Showing the growth of both the EIB and the EIF over the past two decades, the chapter highlights the increasing importance of engaging private investors in their financial operations. By proposing an analytical distinction between “economic” and “financial” risk, it argues that operating on risk-sharing arrangements has led the EIB—and the Juncker Plan—to effectively accumulate the latter at the expense of the former, which has resulted not only in a trade-off between actual policy steer as envisaged by the Commission and increased leverage as a developmental strategy, but also in political tensions within the field of development banking.

Climate finance activities of the multilateral development banks, emphasizing the role of the European Investment Bank in this regard

Regional disparities have always been present in the history of the European Union that has become more and more significant and intense on the occasion of the continuous enlargements of the integration. The European Investment Bank (EIB) as a policy driven development bank of the European Union plays a crucial role in reducing these regional disparities and fostering the social and territorial cohesion of the union by providing funds at favourable terms. The EIB, on the path of considerable metamorphosis, is being transformed to a so called climate or green bank, having simultaneously two task to fulfil, namely to strengthen the European Union’s position on the multi-polar global market and secure a just transition for those regions that are mostly hit by the measures taken for a climate-friendly and environmentally sustainable economy. All of the multilateral development banks following the parity and disparity models place great emphasis upon climate finance to contribute to sustainable economic growth, increasing employment and a heathy planet. The research covers the period of time between 2015 and 2025.

INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORT AT THE REGIONAL LEVEL

The purpose of the article is to assess the practice of attracting international sources of financial support for public transportation at the regional level, to identify problems with insufficient effectiveness of the implementation of international financial support projects and the formation of solutions at various system levels. It is determined that the main sources of financing of transport entities are self-financing, lending, state and international financial support. The preconditions for the use of credit funds of international financial donors for financing public transport and the conditions for lending to transport entities are described. Peculiarities of public transport lending by way of implementation of the project "Ukraine Urban Public Transport" are analyzed, and it is highlighted that its purpose is to realize the strategic priorities of the transport industry, institutional reforms and informatization. It is clarified that the responsibility for the performance gaps under the project, defined in the assistance agreements, is allocated to the City Councils and / or public transport entities. An assessment of international financial support is made and the reasons for short receipt of funds by transport companies from international financial organizations are specified. The amount of losses on incomplete implementation of the plan of expenditures and provision of credits for the realization of projects in the transport sector of Ukraine is clarified. Inefficiency in finding additional sources of financing of the project "Ukraine Urban Public Transport" is justified due to the impossibility to allocate financial responsibility to a certain project group in case of delay in non-implementation of the project plan at all levels. The organizational and financial mechanism of providing international financing for urban public transport by the European Investment Bank is proposed. It is argued that the mentioned mechanism, in contrast to the existing ones, identifies control points for the flow of financial resources, which provides an opportunity to suggest ways to intensify control activities by observers of the European Investment Bank and the public. The main disadvantage of receiving financing from the European Investment Bank in the framework of the project "Ukraine Urban Public Transport" is identified: obligations to pay VAT to the State budget are allocated to the business entity of the transport sector. The problems of inefficiency of implementation of financing sources of international financial organizations (on the example of the European Investment Bank) are identified and the directions of their solution are offered. The need for coordination of bodies of state supervision at the regional level with the observers' control activity is identified to promote the efficient and meaningful use of international financial sources by economic entities in the transport sector. It is proposed to supplement the state and supranational control with public control functions through the following options for establishing cooperation: 1) interaction of public councils at local self-government bodies with independent observers of international organizations involving auditors of the Accounting Chamber; 2) control of the process of implementation of the credit project of important infrastructure projects, including public transportation, by public organizations of the regional level. Methodology. In accordance with the purpose, the following research methods were used: a systemic approach (in identifying the components of the organizational and financial mechanism of international financial projects and their relationship), methods of comparative and statistical analysis (in assessing the receipt of financial resources from international financial sources). Results. The problems of inefficiency of implementation of financing sources of international financial organizations (on the example of the European Investment Bank) are identified and the directions of their solution are offered. Practical implications. Improving efficiency of using the international sources of financial support at the regional level will contribute to the renewal of the rolling stock of urban public transport, ensure its sustainable operation and development, save jobs at utility enterprises, increase revenues of utility enterprises from the provision of transportation services to the population. Value/originality. The organizational and financial mechanism for providing international financial support for urban public transport by the EIB has been developed, which, unlike the existing ones, identifies control points for grant flows, providing an opportunity to suggest ways to intensify control activities by the EIB observers and the public.

Promoting Investment in the European Union, Evaluating the Juncker Plan

This chapter analyzes the Juncker Plan, in particular, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), highlighting its achievements in expanding investment in the European Union and challenges in mitigating future risks to the European Investment Bank, as well as maximizing the development impact of its activities.