NIB President Johnny Åkerholm urges financial sector to take responsibility for climate change mitigation

NIB, together with the American-Scandinavian Foundation, arranged an economic colloquium on 7 April 2008 at Scandinavia House in New York City with the topic "Climate Change: A Discussion of Environmental Issues from Business and Political Perspectives". Among the speakers were Ms Gro Harlem Brundtland, UN Special Envoy on Climate Change; Mr Jorma Ollila, Chairman of the Board of Nokia and of Royal Dutch Shell; and Mr Bernt Reitan, Executive Vice President of Alcoa.

Mr Åkerholm stresses the importance of international cooperation between both political decision-makers and the business community to initiate and proceed with concrete measures aimed at diminishing harmful effects on the environment. He points out that due to their multilateral status, International Financial Institutions are especially well equipped to support actions to prevent climate change.

"NIB is operating worldwide with loans outstanding in 38 countries and is analysing potential investment projects from a long-term perspective. Our Nordic and Baltic member countries have called for NIB to assume a more prominent role in bringing about economic, ecological and social benefits. Environmental improvements should be seen as long-term investments, not as costs, and competitiveness and a healthy environment as interconnected," Mr Åkerholm adds.

In the beginning of 2008, NIB decided to set up a new EUR 1 billion lending facility for the financing of projects mitigating climate change.

NIB is an International Financial Institution owned by eight member countries: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway and Sweden. The Bank provides long-term loans on market terms to private and public projects that strengthen competitiveness and enhance the environment. The environmental loans in 2007 amounted to EUR 368 million. NIB has the highest possible credit rating and acquires the funds for its lending by borrowing on the international capital markets. The Bank has some 160 employees and total assets amounting to 20 billion euros. NIB\'s headquarters are located in Helsinki, Finland.