EEFIG report identifies ways to drive new finance for energy efficiency investments


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Author

Floriane Cappelletti

Publication date

February 27, 2015

Friday 27 February 2015

On 26 February, the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG) co-convened by the European Commission and UNEP Finance Initiative launched its final report on the occasion of the Heating and Cooling Conference.

The report, entitled “Energy Efficiency – the first fuel for the EU Economy: How to drive new finance for energy efficiency investments”, identifies the critical success factors, policies, market instruments and financing solutions to increase energy efficiency investments in Europe in the buildings, industry and SME sectors. The international landmark study is the result of 16 months of work of more than 120 active participants representing finance, policy makers, the buildings sector, industry, SMEs and energy efficiency market.

European Commission Vice President, Maroš Šefčovič welcomed the launch of the report with the following words: “Investing into energy efficiency measures in buildings, industry and in SMEs is fundamentally important for Europe. I will strive to ensure that energy efficiency investment financing is looked at in our forthcoming policies and that this Report will be used as inspiration for our further work.”

In its report EEFIG identifies the need to engage multiple stakeholder groups, scale-up the use of several financial instruments within a clear and enforced “carrot and stick” legislative framework and identifies 19 recommended market and policy actions in four strategic areas: 1) Market, 2) Economic, 3) Financial, 4) Institutional.

Furthermore, the report identifies 15 financial instruments for energy efficiency investing and assesses their use and potential in the various buildings and industry sub-sectors together with relevant case studies that illustrate best practice applications of each instrument within EU Member States as well as highlighting certain key benefits and challenges which each of the instruments face.

Crossed-posted from the Covenant of Mayors website.