The European Investment Bank (EIB) has said it would “welcome applications for forestry projects in Ireland” and has highlighted previous financial support provided to Coillte in its latest report on “sustainability in the forestry sector”.
The EIB told Agriland that “there are currently no forestry projects from Ireland in our pipeline of projects to be financed”.
“We provide a variety of financing and advisory services, that public and private entities can benefit from by applying,” an EIB spokesperson added.
In its Forests At The Heart Of Sustainable Development report the EIB stresses that “forests are natural carbon sinks and a key tool in the fight against climate change”.
“Halting deforestation and ecosystems degradation through sustainable management helps economic development and makes sure that the production and consumption of agricultural and forest-based products are sustainable,” the EIB stated.
It outlined that as a public bank its role in the forestry sector “is to help address the investment gaps specific to the forest-based bioeconomy”.
“We also improve social and economic cohesion, particularly in rural areas, where the forestry sector is rooted.
“Our forest activities generate revenue and jobs, with significant benefits for local economies,” the EIB added.
In its latest report on forestry, the bank, which has more than 40 years of lending to the sector, said it ensures that its forestry projects “create positive environmental, social and economic benefits”.
The EIB also highlighted the success of a number of recent projects which it had supported in Portugal, Turkey, Spain and Ireland, and detailed how it had financed Coillte‘s forest plantation and management programme for 2016-2020.
“The bank’s €90 million loan mobilised over €200 million to help plant over 40,000ha of forests and support the management of 440,000ha of Forest Stewardship Council certified forests,” the EIB stated.
Forestry fund
In January it emerged that Coillte had signed a controversial “operational management agreement” with the London-headquartered specialist alternative asset manager, Gresham House, and will play a key role in its new Irish Strategic Forestry Fund.
Representatives from the semi-state forestry agency recently told the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture, Food and the Marine that the Irish Strategic Forestry Fund “is just one of many initiatives that will be required to deliver on our afforestation ambitions”.
The chair of Coillte, Bernie Gray, told the committee that its “ambition is to enable the creation of 100,000 ha of new forests by 2050, half of which will be native woodland”.