Declaring war on plastic to save our oceans: the world's major climate financiers EIB, KfW and AFD launch a EUR 2 billion initiative

Frankfurt am Main (ots) - Ahead of the IMF/World Bank Group
meetings, KfW Group on behalf of the German Federal Government, the
European Investment Bank (EIB) and the Agence Française de
Developpement (AFD) launched the Clean Oceans Initiative to support
the development and implementation of sustainable projects that will
reduce pollution in the world's oceans over the next five years. This
partnership will provide EUR 2 billion long-term financing for
projects aiming at reducing marine litter, especially plastics, as
well as untreated wastewater discharge, with a view to crowding-in
private sector investment.

The three partner institutions will combine their expertise and
experience to support the development and implementation of viable
projects in this sector. The Clean Oceans Initiative will also
provide innovative financing structures catering for the needs of
private enterprises of varying size, including micro-enterprises, and
for research and innovation projects.

The Clean Oceans Initiative is global in nature but will focus
particularly on operations in riverine and coastal areas in
developing countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, since
ninety percent of plastic waste enters the oceans through 10 major
river systems located in Africa and Asia, where access to regular
waste collection and controlled waste disposal often lacks.

The Clean Oceans Initiative will notably target the following
sectors:

- Collection, pre-treatment and recycling of waste and
particularly plastics collected on land, from rivers and from
the sea;

- Improved waste management in ports and harbours to support the
reduction of marine littering from ships and transport on water;

- Support to plastic prevention measures, market development for
recycling plastics and other materials and public awareness
building;

- Support to the implementation of wastewater treatment plants
that enable reduction in the discharge of plastics and other
pollutants to rivers and oceans.

KfW CEO Dr Günther Bräunig said: "For KfW, the comprehensive and
consistent focus on sustainability will be one of the major
challenges in the years ahead. To this end, we have committed
ourselves to an ambitious "Sustainable Finance Roadmap" and plan to
embed the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Agreement on
Climate Change and the German Federal Government's sustainability
strategy into our sustainability model. Protecting the oceans from
pollution is one of the most important tasks requiring a coordinated
and targeted international response. We have therefore joined forces
with the European Investment Bank and the Agence Française de
Développement (AFD) to launch the Clean Oceans Initiative to pool and
expand our respective activities to protect the oceans."

EIB President Dr. Werner Hoyer said: "Cleaning up our oceans is a
truly global challenge. Partnership is key to achieving the UN
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and I am delighted that the EIB,
KfW and AFD are joining forces to finance the conservation and
sustainable use of the oceans through this initiative. None of our
institutions is new to this sector. We have been collaborating for
some time on projects that reduce marine litter and the discharge of
untreated wastewater. The Clean Oceans Initiative will step up and
allow us to effect a quantum leap in these efforts. EIB, KfW and AFD
have a critical role to play: Our involvement can make a fundamental
contribution to channelling funds and crowding in private sector
investments, developing innovative solutions to clean the oceans for
future generations."

AFD Chief Executive officer Rémy Rioux said: "Collaboration is
absolutely essential to efficiently address the global challenge of
eliminating pollution and other damage sources of our oceans. The
activities that are funded through this EUR 2 billion initiative are
based on collaboration with actors on the ground: local authorities,
the private sector, civil society organisations and governments. The
oceans are one crucial common good for humanity's future. We all need
to come up with new and courageous ways to ensure that the oceans are
safe from pollution and irreversible degradation. It is therefore
with great pride that AFD contributes to this global effort, with the
aim of eliciting new commitments from all."

Key facts

Oceans are a global public good, providing natural resources
including food, medicines, and biofuels. Over three billion people
depend on marine and coastal biodiversity for their livelihoods and
the market value of marine and coastal resources and industries is
estimated at EUR 2,600 billion per year, so about 5 per cent of
global GDP. Maintaining clean oceans is therefore crucial for
sustainable development and poverty reduction by increasing people's
income and improving health. It also supports climate change
mitigation as oceans absorb about thirty percent of carbon dioxide,
buffering the impacts of global warming. An estimated 8 million tons
of plastic waste and microplastics, is discharged into the world's
oceans every year, threatening marine ecosystems, people and
communities that depend on clean oceans. If we continue along this
path, it is estimated that by 2050 there will be more plastics than
fish in the oceans by weight.

About KfW

KfW is one of the world's leading promotional banks. Since 1948
KfW has been committed to improving economic, social and ecological
living conditions all around the world on behalf of the Federal
Republic of Germany and the federal states. To do this, it supplied
funds totalling EUR 76.5 billion in 2017 alone; of this total, 43%
was spent on measures aimed at protecting the climate and the
environment. KfW has no retail branches and does not hold any
customer deposits. It funds its promotional business in a responsible
manner and almost entirely via the international capital markets. In
2017 it raised EUR 78.2 billion for this purpose.

About the EIB

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending
institution of the European Union and is owned by the EU Member
States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in
order to contribute towards EU policy goals both in Europe and
beyond. The European Investment Bank is active in around 160
countries. It is the world's largest financier of climate-related
investment with USD 100bn committed for climate action in the 5 years
up to 2020 in support of the Paris Agreement, representing more than
25% of its total financing. Over the last 5 years, the EIB has
financed around 20 projects in 13 countries that will reduce
pollution in the Mediterranean, the Pacific, the Atlantic and the
Caribbean.

About AFD

AFD is France's inclusive public development bank. It commits
financing and technical assistance to projects that genuinely improve
everyday life, both in developing and emerging countries and in the
French overseas territories. Our action is fully in line with the
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through its network of 85
agencies, AFD operates in 109 countries, where it is currently
financing, supervising and supporting over 3,600 development
projects. afd.fr

Further information can be found at:
https://www.kfw.de/stories/dossier-plastikmuell.html.

Pressekontakt:
KfW, Palmengartenstr. 5 - 9, 60325 Frankfurt
Kommunikation (KOM), Dr. Charis Pöthig
Tel. +49 (0)69 7431 4683, Fax: +49 (0)69 7431 3266,
E-Mail: Charis.poethig@kfw.de, Internet: www.kfw.de

Original-Content von: KfW, übermittelt durch news aktuell