KfW's European commitment

On 26 October 2023, KfW Board Member Christiane Laibach signed, together with Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships, a guarantee framework agreement amounting to EUR 100 million under the EFSD+ (European Funds for Sustainable Development). The framework agreement is used to implement a project with the African Local Currency Bond Fund (ALCBF).

The fund founded in 2012 by KfW on behalf of the federal government, supports the development and expansion of African bond markets in local currently. It serves as an anchor investor in local-currency bonds of African companies raising capital via the respective local bond market. The ALCBF’s task is to attract private investors to holdings in issues. By the end of 2022, the fund registered 47 active bond investments in 16 countries totalling approximately USD 148 million. KfW holds on fiduciary basis an issue amounting to EUR 92.6 million in total.

Through the framework agreement granted by the EU, KfW will give guarantees to lenders of the ALCBF and this way it will support the fund in raising capital in local currency on the one hand and diversify its sources of financing as well reduce its refinancing costs on the other hand. Ultimately by means of European support, the fund will be enabled to expand its business activities and hence its developmental impact.

Currently only 38% of a total 2.5 billon tonnes of waste is recycled and reintegrated into economic value chains. Through the 'circular economy' concept, products and processes are being redeveloped so that resources can be used many times over and hence the amount of waste is being reduced. The advantages of transitioning from a linear business model towards a circular economy include not only environmental benefits, but also a reduced resource dependency and the creation of jobs through innovations and the development of materials, products and processes. To support this transformation, the circular economy is an important pillar of the European Green Deal.

To implement circular economy, the six main public promotional banks of the European Union (BKG Poland, CDC France, including BpiFrance, CDP Italy, ICO Spain, KfW Germany as well as the EIB) decided to launch the Joint Initiative on Circular Economy (JICE). JICE shall provide long-term financing for projects which accelerate the transformation towards circular economy. The participating JICE partners aim to provide at least ten billion Euros of investments in circular economy projects by the end of 2023. As of the end of 2022 projects worth €8.9 billion have been funded across a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, industry and services, mobility, urban development, waste and water management. Projects span all stages of the value chain and the life cycle of products and services, from design to value recovery.

In July 2023 the existing JICE members decided to prolong their joint initiative beyond the original time frame of 2023. At the same time, partners decided to open their initiative to further interested and committed European promotional banks and institutions.

The Joint Initiative on Circular Economy (JICE) reaches €8.9 billion and continues its efforts | KfW

Chile has excellent conditions for using solar and wind power to generate energy and hence a high potential for the cost-effective and sustainable production of green hydrogen. By 2030, the country strives towards becoming the world’s cheapest provider of the ‘fuel for the future’. The Chilean government is now supported by the EU and KfW. In June 2023, the Team Europe Renewable Hydrogen Funding Platform for Chile was launched at the highest political level by EU-Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chilean state president Gabriel Boric. The development of the green hydrogen economy in Chile will be driven forward, taking social and ecological interests into account, by means of a financial contribution of EUR 216 million in total, under the leadership of KfW. The project is being implemented by the Chilean Economic Development Agency (CORFO), which will use the funding for the development of specific projects for the production and use of hydrogen based on renewable energy.

On the whole, the joint commitment of the EU, the European Investment Bank (EIB) and KfW (on behalf of the German government) is an essential contribution to implementing the EU’s 'Global Gateway' investment and connectivity strategy in collaboration with Chile. KfW supports the EU as an implementing partner and brings their long-standing expertise to bear as a development bank with a worldwide network of local and regional offices. With our European JEFIC-partners (AFD, AECID, BGK and CDP) we pool our potential to jointly offer the best solutions for development cooperation.

Press Release by the EU Delegation in Chile

In May 2022, the EU's national development banks and institutions (CDC, CDP, ICO, BGK and KfW, ELTI) and the European Investment Bank (EIB), committed to provide EUR 2 billion financing in support of Ukrainian refugees until the end of 2022. The initiative was launched shortly after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It aimed to assist Ukrainian refugees in the European Union and internally displaced persons in Ukraine by providing financial resources through a variety of measures reaching from housing to education, from employment to childcare and from medicine to humanitarian support. Some projects were also directed at helping refugees to integrate into their local communities.

The initiative closed end of 2022 with a total financing volume of EUR 3.1 billion. The European Promotional Banks will continue their support for Ukraine with individual measures in accordance with the national and European authorities.

KfW CEO Stefan B. Wintels: „The humanitarian situation in Ukraine remains dramatic. Through joint action we have been able to initiate a large number of support measures. Every single contribution helps to alleviate the burden of internally displaced persons and refugees abroad.”

“We need to ensure continued support to the Ukrainian economy. It is my firm belief that we cannot afford a pause in our support in the coming weeks and months. It is the rational thing to do to keep the Ukrainian economy running in these hard and difficult times”, EIB-President Werner Hoyer says.

Project examples within the framework of the CARE Initiative:

• TUMO goes virtual for Ukrainian youths
• Former Kurhaus Viktoria in Schönwald accommodates refugees
• EIB finances urban infrastructure for Rzeszów in eastern Poland
• Joint efforts by staff to support Ukraine

Ukraine measures (16 December 2022)

Although young technology companies offer enormous growth and innovation opportunities, the market for venture capital in Europe has significant catch-up and further development potential compared to the Anglo-Saxon region. KfW is addressing this deficit in line with the EU strategy of a Capital Markets Union through its subsidiary KfW Capital, which has been an important investor in the VC market since 2018. To support the development of tech companies in Europe, five national VC investors, namely Bpifrance (France), Tesi (Finland), Hellenic Development Bank of Investments (Greece) Vækstfonden (Denmark) and KfW Capital (Germany) have entered into a cooperation agreement to mobilise EUR 3.3 billion for fund investments in Europe over the next 5 years. The strategic cooperation was signed at the "Growing together" event in Athens in April 2022 and is open to further partners among European public investors. In addition, KfW Capital has designed the Future Fund for Germany in close cooperation with policymakers with a total volume of EUR 10 billion, of which EUR 7 billion can already be drawn down.

Once hailed as a miracle material, plastic has now become a plague of our time. An estimated eight million tonnes end up in the world's oceans every year. To counteract this, KfW, together with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the French development bank AFD, founded the Clean Oceans Initiative in 2018. Two years later, the Spanish ICO and the Italian CDP joined and, since this year, also the EBRD.

Plastic waste in the oceans is currently one of the biggest global challenges, because the oceans are indispensable for the planet. They provide food, medicine, renewable energy and many other resources. But they also regulate the climate and are one of the world's largest CO2 reservoirs. Keeping the oceans intact is therefore a major concern for KfW.

Originally, the Clean Oceans partners had set themselves the goal of mobilising 2 billion euros in projects to reduce plastic and other litter in the world's oceans by 2023. By the end of 2021, 80% of this target had already been met. At the One Ocean Summit in Brest, the initiative was therefore extended and the target increased to 4 billion euros by 2025.