Invest EU Guarantees

InvestEU Guarantees

InvestEU is the new EU flagship investment programme to boost the European economy. It builds on the success of the Investment Plan for Europe and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). InvestEU will mobilise at least EUR 650 billion of private investment over the period 2021-2027. In doing this, the fund will support a sustainable recovery for a greener, more digital and more resilient European economy.

InvestEU will run between 2021 and 2027. The programme will bring under one roof fourteen EU financial instruments, including the COSME – Loan Guarantee Facility, InnovFin SME guarantee and EaSi Guarantees – Microfinance and Social Enterprise. The larger scale and efficiencies of this single fund will give it a strong brand and allow for an even greater boost of investments.

InvestEU will consists of three components:

• The InvestEU Fund – to mobilise public and private investments using guarantees from the EU budget
• The InvestEU Advisory Hub – to provide advisory support to investment projects, and for enhancing the capacity of project promoters and financial intermediaries to implement financing and investment operations
• The InvestEU Portal – an easily-accessible database to bring together projects and investors

The InvestEU Fund will support four policy areas:

• Sustainable infrastructure, e.g. circular economy, water, waste, environmental infrastructure, sustainable transport, rail and road infrastructure, renewable energy, energy efficiency renovation projects, environmental and climate resilience research
• Research, innovation and digitisation, e.g. research and innovation, scaling up of larger innovative companies
• SME window for innovative SMEs and small mid-cap companies
• Social investment and skills window, e.g. education, schools, healthcare, refugees

In addition to these focus areas, InvestEU will be flexible and adapt to evolving policy priorities and market demand.

What is the relevance for Circular Cities?

The focus of InvestEU will partially be on a sustainable recovery and making Europe greener. At least 30% of the investments that will be part of InvestEU will contribute to meeting the EU’s climate objectives. In this way, InvestEU is one of the main EU programmes that contributes to the European Green Deal Investment Plan. Investments in circular economy projects are explicitly foreseen in the policy areas “Sustainable infrastructure” and “Research, innovation and digitalisation”, providing opportunities for circular city initiatives.

How to apply?

Application for the InvestEU Fund will start in 2021. Stay up to date with the latest developments regarding InvestEU here and here .