Main objectives: To promote easy access to environmental information held by the EIB by proactively making it available to the public via an electronic database.
Implementation: The project was set up in 2014 cooperation with our IT specialists who helped create the database. Thereafter, in cooperation with various legal and environmental specialists in the organization, we have defined the scope of “environmental information” and have tried over the past four years to widen this scope as much as possible. The Public Register is quality controlled, with special emphasis on enhancing and improving its user friendliness.
Result: Proactively publishing environmental information in the Public Register has enabled the Bank to promote transparency and openness on how it makes decisions, and strengthen its credibility and its accountability to citizens. Transparency also contributes to increasing the efficiency and sustainability of the Bank’s operations, and enhances its relations with external stakeholders.
Why do you think this example shows how the Aarhus Convention made a difference in your country?
Openness and transparency are key EU concepts, enshrined in the EU Treaty and Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. By setting up the Public Register, the EIB, as a public EU institution, can show its compliance with, the applicable EU framework and in turn show a commitment to transparency – a value deeply enshrined in the organization’s activities.
