Angela Merkel criticises EIB decision to ban gas lending

(Climate Change News, 27 Nov 2019) The German chancellor made the comments after incoming EU Commission president Ursula Von der Leyen praised the bank’s progress on climate action.

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said she disapproves of the European Investment Bank’s decision to ban funding for natural gas projects by the end of 2021, days after the German government agreed to the new guidelines.

Merkel criticised the European Investment Bank’s (EIB) decision to ban funding for natural gas projects by the end of 2021. As Germany exits both nuclear and coal, natural gas is needed as a bridging technology in the energy transition, Merkel said in a parliamentary speech on the 2020 federal budget.

“That is why I find it rather complicated that the European Investment Bank decided to no longer finance gas as a bridging technology. I don’t think that this is right,” Merkel told parliamentarians. The German government supported the EIB’s decision to end gas lending earlier this month.

In a parallel speech in the European Parliament, European Commission president-elect Ursula von der Leyen praised the EIB’s decision, saying she was happy about the “progress”  made “to strengthen its role as EU climate bank.”

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Climate Change News, 27 Nov 2019: Angela Merkel criticises EIB decision to ban gas lending