Turkiye: VakifBank Climate Transition and Reconstruction Facility (AIIB-000962)

Regions
  • Europe and Central Asia
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Turkiye
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Proposed
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
U
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Nov 1, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi T.A.O. (VakifBank)
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Climate and Environment
  • Construction
  • Education and Health
  • Energy
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Loan
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 300.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Loan Amount (USD)
$ 300.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 300.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ AIIB website

Updated in EWS Jul 11, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jun 30, 2025


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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the AIIB, the objective of the project is to support Turkiye's resilient recovery and climate transition through financing for green and inclusive post-earthquake housing and climate-aligned small and medium enterprise investments, delivered via a sovereign-backed facility implemented by VakifBank.

The investment consists of a sovereign-backed multi-sector on-lending facility of up to USD300 million to Turkiye Vakiflar Bankasi T.A.O. (VakifBank) (the Facility) with two components:

(i) Component A: Post-earthquake reconstruction, Affordable Housing and Social Infrastructure, and

(ii) Component B: Climate Finance.

Component A consists of a loan of up to USD200 million to support Turkiye's post-earthquake reconstruction efforts through the financing of affordable residential housing and social infrastructure facilities in 11 regions affected by the 2023 disaster. Affordable housing will benefit low-income families and households and in compliance with standards for earthquake resilience and structural integrity set by the Housing Development Administration of Turkiye (Toplu Konut Idaresi Baskanligi, or TOKI). Residential buildings financed from the proceeds of the facility will conform to the standards of green affordable housing under the relevant energy performance certifications. The loan will also support the construction of social infrastructure such as educational facilities and healthcare facilities, with emphasis on low-income areas and underserved groups. The buildings conform to standards of earthquake and climate resilience and energy efficiency and promote the introduction of digitalization to the health and educational services.

Component B consists of a loan of up to USD 100 million to support climate mitigation and adaptation investments by the private sector, specifically small and medium enterprises (SMEs), according to a definition to be agreed between the Borrower and the Bank. Eligible investments may include renewable energy generation, battery energy storage systems (BESS), as well as demand-side solutions that reduce the consumption and waste of energy in buildings. Adaptation investments will enhance the resilience and resource efficiency of production processes, equipment, buildings and infrastructure. The facility will include investments that promote environmental sustainability and mitigate impacts.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

As stated by the AIIB, the Project is placed in Category FI, as the financing structure involves the provision of funds to VakifBank pursuant to which AIIB delegates the decision-making related to the use of the AIIB's funds insofar as the subprojects meet the conditions of the Project Operations Manual (POM). This will include the selection, appraisal, approval, and monitoring of subprojects in accordance with AIIB's ESP requirements. Category A as well as Higher Risk activities are excluded from the proposed subproject.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.
Financial Intermediary
A financial intermediary is a bank or financial institution that receives funds from a development bank. A financial intermediary then lends these funds to their clients (private actors) in the form of loans, bonds, guarantees and equity shares. Financial intermediaries include insurance, pension and equity funds. The direct financial relationship is between the development bank and the financial intermediary.
Private Actors Description
A Private Actor is a non-governmental body or entity that is the borrower or client of a development project, which can include corporations, private equity and banks. This describes the private actors and their roles in relation to the project, when private actor information is disclosed or has been further researched.

As stated by the AIIB, VakifBank is a prominent Turkish bank established in 1954 with the mission of utilizing the foundation (vakif)'s assets to contribute to Turkiye's economic development. The bank's ownership structure includes 74.79% held by the Turkiye Wealth Fund (Group D), 14.75% by the Republic of Turkiye Ministry of Treasury and Finance (Group A and B), 4.06% by the VakifBank Pension Fund (Group C), and the remaining 6.35% as free float (Group D). Headquartered in Istanbul, VakifBank operates a network of branches across Turkiye, providing a comprehensive range of services including corporate, commercial, and retail banking, as well as investment and private banking services. The bank also has international branches in New York, Bahrain, Erbil, and Qatar, extending its services globally. As of March 31, 2025, VakifBank reported total assets of approximately TL 4.2 trillion (around USD 260 billion), total loans of TL 3 trillion (USD 186 billion), and net income of TL 20.03 billion (USD 1.24 billion) for the first quarter. VakifBank is Turkiye's second-largest bank by total assets and continues to play a central role in supporting the country's economic development and sustainability goals.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

AIIB Team Leader:

Francisco Fortuny - Senior Investment Officer
Email: fj.fortuny@aiib.org

Financial Intermediary - Türkiye Vakiflar Bankasi T.A.O. (VakifBank):

Ali Tahan - Senior Vice President
Email: Ali.TAHAN@vakifbank.com.tr

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.aiib.org/en/contact/information-request/index.html

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF AIIB

The AIIB has established the Accountability Mechanism for Project-Affected People (PPM). The PPM provides Òan opportunity for an independent and impartial review of submissions from Project-affected people who believe they have been or are likely to be adversely affected by AIIBÕs failure to implement the ESP in situations when their concerns cannot be addressed satisfactorily through Project level GRMs or AIIB Management processes.Ó Two or more project-affected people can file a complaint. Under the current AIIB policy, when the bank co-finances a project with another development bank, it may apply the other bank's standards. You can refer to the Project Summary Information document to find out which standards apply. You can learn more about the PPM and how to file a complaint at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/how-we-assist-you/index.html

The complaint submission form can be accessed in Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, Bengali, Chinese, English, Tagalog, Hindi, Nepali, Russian, Turkish, or Urdu. The submission form can be found at: https://www.aiib.org/en/about-aiib/who-we-are/project-affected-peoples-mechanism/submission/index.html

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How it works