EIB commits 15 billion euros to protect EU's water resources

By Virginia Furness and Kate Abnett

LONDON/BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Investment Bank pledged on Wednesday to invest 15 billion euros ($17 billion) in projects that help reduce water pollution, prevent water wastage and support innovative businesses in the water sector over the next three years.

The commitment by the European Union's lending arm is part of the bloc's strategy, also announced on Wednesday, to tackle water shortages and droughts made worse by climate change, and address the intense pressure on water supplies from farming, pollution and sprawling urbanisation.

The EIB will spread the pledged investments between 2025 and 2027 mostly in the form of loans, with the aim of mobilising further 25 billion euros from commercial investors, Edouard Perard, head of the bank's water division, told Reuters. 

The financing will target large infrastructure projects, those which restore or use natural ecosystems that manage water supplies, and emerging water technologies.

"This is where water meets business," he said. "It's by developing the technology of the future we will be able to meet these water challenges."

Around 40% of Europe now faces a drought warning, with 1.6% in more severe "alert" conditions - including parts of Greece, Poland and Italy, data from the EU's European Drought Observatory show.

"Water is not like any other resource, we face huge stress in Europe and across the globe," EU Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall said.

The Commission said it will propose measures to improve resilience to water stress, including minimum standards for data centres to save water.

But it scaled back plans included in an earlier draft of the strategy, previously reported by Reuters, for new EU subsidies to farmers who invest in saving water, when the bloc's huge farming subsidy programme is renewed.

The EU has said around 23 billion euros per year in additional investment is needed to properly implement its existing water rules, which regulate pollutants and treatment of waste water. 

($1 = 0.8784 euros)

(Reporting by Virginia Furness and Kate AbnettEditing by Tomasz Janowski)