Early Warning System

Countries

Spain

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Investment Bank (EIB)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

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

Dec 30, 2024

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

GREENLIGHT BIOSCIENCES ESPANA SLU

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Agriculture and Forestry
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)

$ 36.42 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.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported 35
Converted using 2024-12-30 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 78.04 million

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EIB website

Updated in EWS Apr 10, 2025

Disclosed by Bank Jun 6, 2024

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
Contact the EWS Team

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 Bank’s website, the project concerns the research & development, registration, commercialisation and manufacturing of a pipeline of Ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi)-based and other biocontrol solutions for plant health and bee health, addressing challenges for farmers and crop protection such as resistance and residues within the EU or benefitting the EU to be launched between 2024 and 2027.

The project could address three main challenges for the farmers and crop protection: resistance, residues and regulation. The promoter proposes an innovative and disruptive formula for agricultural crop protection with reduced soil persistence and may contribute to reducing application or displacing chemicals pesticides classified by the EU as candidates for substitution. It aligns with the EU Green Deal objectives, notably concerning biodiversity and farm-to-fork strategies and targets reducing the use and risk of chemical pesticides, as well as the use of the more hazardous pesticides, by 50% by 2030.

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.

Based on the environment, climate and social (ECS) information the project is deemed to have low residual ECS risks and impacts.

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Investment Bank (EIB)

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.

GreenLight Biosciences is a pioneer company in the application of RNA technology for agriculture uses and specifically pest control. Innovative RNA-based biocontrol products for plant health are an alternative to traditional chemical pesticides, supporting regenerative agriculture and biodiversity protection.

Private Actor 1	Private Actor 1 Role	Private Actor 1 Sector	Relation	Private Actor 2	Private Actor 2 Role	Private Actor 2 Sector
-	-	-	-	GreenLight Biosciences Espana SLU	Client	-

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.

Contact: Maite Cordero
Email: m.corderomunoz@eib.org
Phone: +34 606 66 82 62

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.eib.org/en/infocentre/registers/request-form/request-form-default.htm

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EIB

The EIB Complaints Mechanism is designed to facilitate and handle complaints against the EIB by individuals, organizations or corporations affected by EIB activities. When exercising the right to lodge a complaint against the EIB, any member of the public has access to a two-tier procedure, one internal - the Complaints Mechanism Office - and one external - the European Ombudsman. A complaint can be lodged via a written communication addressed to the Secretary General of the EIB, via email to the dedicated email address: complaints@eib.org, by completing the online complaint form available at the following address: http://www.eib.org/complaints/form via fax or delivered directly to the EIB Complaints Mechanism Division, any EIB local representation office or any EIB staff. For further details, check: http://www.eib.org/attachments/strategies/complaints_mechanism_policy_en.pdf

When dissatisfied with a complaint to the EIB Complaints Mechanism, citizens can then turn towards the European Ombudsman. A memorandum of Understanding has been signed between the EIB and the European Ombudsman establishes that citizens (even outside of the EU if the Ombudsman finds their complaint justified) can turn towards the Ombudsman on issues related to 'maladministration' by the EIB. Note that before going to the Ombudsman, an attempt must be made to resolve the case by contacting the EIB. In addition, the complaint must be made within two years of the date when the facts on which your complaint is based became known to you. You can write to the Ombudsman in any of the languages of the European Union. Additional details, including filing requirements and complaint forms, are available at: http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu/atyourservice/interactiveguide.faces