EIB’s top corporate clients EIB profit €100 billion while receiving €11.3 billion in loans, new report finds. Among them, the ODG focalizes on Iberdrola, which received €3.5 billion from the EIB since 2020. This company reported profits of €16.6 billion between 2020 and 2023.
The new report “The wheel of corporate fortune: How the EIB boosts profits in the name of competitiveness”, from Counter Balance, Observatori del Deute en la Globalització (ODG), Observatoire des Multinationales, and Gresea,, reveals how 7 top corporate clients of the European Investment Bank (EIB) —Iberdrola, Stellantis, Intesa Sanpaolo, Leonardo, Orange, Northvolt and the Gavi Alliance— receive billions in public loans despite significant profits and troubling social and environmental records.
Since 2020, these 7 companies have collectively earned €100 billion in profits, an amount exceeding half of the EU’s annual social infrastructure needs. Over €11 billion in EIB loans has bolstered these businesses, which have since distributed €38.7 billion to shareholders, spent €11.9 billion on share buybacks, and paid CEOs €146.7 million.
Iberdrola received €3.5 billion from the EIB since 2020 while reporting profits of €16.6 billion between 2020 and 2023. In the same period, the company has disbursed €4.7 billion of dividends to its shareholders and €25.2 million to its CEO in salaries and bonus. At the same time, Iberdrola is linked to 13 socio-environmental conflicts in Central America, Brazil, and Europe, primarily due to large-scale projects with significant ecological and social impacts.
One of them is the largest European solar plant in Spain financed by the EIB, which did not deliver promised local jobs, illegally expropriated the main landowner and is being investigated for fraud by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. In addition, Iberdrola received over €919 million in public money from Spanish governmental institutions between 2020 and 2023. €899 million of this amount consists of non-exchange grants from central, regional and municipal Spanish administrations, €8.8 million are loans, €11.4 million financial guarantees and €1.019,33 tax advantages.
The EIB’s financing of large corporations and private financial institutions has steadily increased as it becomes a central EU institution to enhance competitiveness in strategic sectors. The report highlights a concerning trend: public funds are being used to make projects even more lucrative for companies capable of self-financing, many of which have harmful social and environmental impacts, face fraud investigations, or supply weapons to countries violating international law. Evidence shows that the Bank prioritises boosting profits over social and environmental benefits, which divert resources from investments that serve the public good.
Instead of channelling billions to subsidise profits of large companies, the EIB should become a public bank supporting a truly public mandate. To do so, the EIB should:
- Finance projects and companies that serve social and environmental needs
- Work with public entities not driven by profit
- Improve its standards to ensure finance for sustainable projects that respect human rights and the environment
- Introduce key social, economic and environmental conditions for companies and financial institutions benefitting from the EIB’s finance