Uniquely for a development bank, the EBRD has a political mandate in that it assists only those countries ‘committed to and applying the principles of multi-party democracy [and]pluralism’.
Safeguarding the environment and a commitment to sustainable energy have also always been central to the EBRD’s activity. A commitment to promote ‘environmentally sound and sustainable development’ was made explicit at its founding.
More recently, our Green Economy Transition approach has made climate finance a key measure of the Bank’s performance. We are now committed to ensuring that, by 2025, the majority of our business volume is green. That target was first hit in 2021, when green finance accounted for 51 per cent of our annual business volume. At our 2021 Annual Meeting our Governors also approved our full alignment with the Paris Agreement by the end of 2022 and we plan to be a majority green bank by 2025.
The coronavirus pandemic of 2020 was a huge challenge to the countries where the EBRD works, all our shareholders and the Bank itself. The EBRD responded by committing all its activity in 2020 and 2021 to countering its economic impact.
The EBRD serves the interests of all its shareholders - 73 countries from five continents plus the European Union and the European Investment Bank - not just those countries which receive its investments (a record €13.1 billion in 2022). At the same time, the number of EBRD shareholders is still increasing; recent new members include China, India, San Marino, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Iraq. Indeed, the EBRD is one of only two major multilateral development banks currently expanding its shareholder base.
However many shareholders the EBRD has, we all stand to gain from the EBRD regions' closer and deeper integration into the global economy and their economies’ continued progress on their transition journeys.
Today it is based in new headquarters in London's Canary Wharf, premises which were officially opened by King Charles III in March 2023. And, from its new home, the Bank is doing more than ever before - across three continents - to help the regions where it works on their way.
Presidents of the EBRD