 Your new post is loading...
The City Climate Finance Gap Fund, or the Gap Fund, supports cities with early-stage technical assistance for low-carbon, climate-resilient urban development plans and projects. The Gap Fund has so far attracted €80 million in funds, but it aims to raise as much as €100 million and could eventually unlock an estimated €4 billion in investments. In operation since September 2020, the Gap Fund is a global partnership that helps cities in developing countries plan, prioritise and deliver projects focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Gap Fund also promotes climate-smart urban development plans.
This “Cost Study of the Building Decarbonization Code” analyzes the incremental first cost and life cycle cost of two common building types that follow the code language in NBI’s Building Decarbonization Code. The study, which was supported by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), analyzes first costs for both all-electric and mixed-fuel paths for single-family and medium office prototypes. It also includes life cycle cost analysis for the single-family scenario. Ultimately, the cost study found that all-electric homes achieve construction savings and mixed-fuel buildings households are only nominally more expensive. It also found marginal additional first costs for property owners of the all-electric medium office building prototype, with most of those attributed to electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Additionally, researchers determined that life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) for the single-family prototypes produced both economic and societal benefits. Researchers used cost data from New York State, a relatively expensive market, in colder Climate Zone 5A.
Europe faces a major challenge to renovate its building stock and achieve its carbon emission targets. Doing so will not be achieved through public funds alone, but also requires investment from private funds. Public authorities can help to leverage private investment through financial instruments, which can incentivise investments by overcoming market failures and distortions.
A number of financial instruments have been tested and used and are ready to be replicated throughout Europe, and the Member States will need to be ready to implement financial instruments in their operational programmes for the next financial period of 2021-2027.
Helsingborg has set a target of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2035 and its authorities are so serious about it that they have issued sustainability-linked bonds. The performance indicator for that financial instrument will be the trajectory of the municipal emission reduction rate in the following years. The goal of the bonds is to attract capital for the carrying out of bolder and more expansive green initiatives so that increased quality of life and a healthier environment will be brought about. The action makes Helsingborg the first municipality to try this approach.
The EEA report identifies several key building blocks for improving cities’ sustainability, including improving the quality of the local environment, building adaptive capacity, ensuring enough public and natural areas, switching to renewable energy, and improving energy and resource efficiency. Moreover, cities should improve the quality of the built environment, including homes, and ensure social justice and inclusive participation in decision-making. While all cities are both complex and different from each other, the report identifies some shared key factors for improving their sustainability. Local culture, knowledge and quality of data can either enable or slow down improvements, and the same is true for new technology, governance, and financial management.
To deal with the current instability in energy prices and accelerate the green transition, there is a need for a central energy authority acting similar to modern central banks in money markets, argues Mike Parr, founder of PWR, a consultancy specialising in power systems.
This report analyses how the 25 largest European banks approach five critical climate and biodiversity-related themes: - Net-zero targets and alignment
- High-carbon disclosures
- Sector policies (fossil fuels, shipping, biomass)
- Biodiversity
- Executive remuneration
La Ville de Paris lance « Paris Sème », un dispositif de soutien destiné à renforcer la capacité d’investissement des actrice.s et acteur.s de la filière agricole de proximité. Pour cette première édition, les réponses sont attendues d'ici le 3 août 2021.
Ce dispositif vise à soutenir, au travers de subventions en investissement, les structures et projets relevant des secteurs de la production agricole primaire, de la transformation et de la commercialisation de produits agricoles ou de l’aquaculture et répondant aux enjeux de l'agriculture durable de proximité.
Art and culture are the most promising avenues to revitalize cities and neighborhoods. But to succeed as a driving force for lasting and meaningful area development, what do incubators, cultural houses and creative hubs need? In a virtual meet-up with twenty fellow city makers, Rinske identifies tools that city makers, governments and developers can use to help their cities thrive .
The need for ‘money to play with’, the importance of new business models and the need to ‘cast’ the ultimate mix of functions and users. Invite twenty city makers to share their thoughts in a virtual conference, and they’ll give you an abundance of tips on nurturing successful cultural and creative hubs. Because what makes one space a success from day one, while another fails to get off the ground? What are the do’s and don’ts of success?
This EEA report, which Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis co-authored, provides up-to-date information for policymakers on the how to apply nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and at the same time making use of multiple societal benefits that these solutions can bring. Drawing on selected examples across Europe, the report shows how impacts of extreme weather and climate-related events are already tackled in this way. It also assesses global and European policies and how nature-based solutions are increasingly being integrated in the efforts to shift towards sustainable development.
Are we building back better? Track climate and energy focused analysis of COVID-19 recovery packages, looking at support for fossil fuels and clean energy.
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has unanimously adopted an opinion on the Renovation Wave , the EU's plan to upgrade the energy performance of Europe's building stock. Accounting for 40% of Europe's energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), the renovation of buildings is key for the EU to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Cities and regions call for a revision of state aid schemes, more flexible budget rules to maximise investments and renovations, subnational targets for the renovation of buildings and the integration of renewable energy sources in renovation projects.
This document aims at briefly presenting benefits for a local authority to launch a process of assessing its budget under the prism of the climate, and the approach to be set up. It is intended for elected officials, service managers and anyone wishing to quickly familiarize themselves with this tool.
It is accompanied by a methodological guide, a technical appendix for the climate change mitigation component and a technical appendix for the climate change adaptation component (both also in French). These documents are available free of charge to all communities that would like to undertake a climate assessment of their budget.
TOC :
- Climate budget assessment in a nutshell
- Why to analyze budget through the prism of climate?
- In concrete terms, what is the recommended approach?
- Seizing the results
- Some answers to frequently asked questions
Document available in French only
|
Local community groups are often seen as being against renewable energy sites or other projects to support the energy transition. But there is a rise in different ownership and funding models that includes local residents who do want to support the quest for a decarbonised economy
According to a report by Le Soir, yesterday, the mayor of Etterbeek, a district in the Brussels Capital Region, stated that local authorities needed to find more funds for green projects. Mayor Vincent De Wolf explained that the COVID-19 pandemic has left many municipal coffers empty and ill-equipped to finance important climate change policies.
This is why he proposed a loan scheme, where private citizens will be able to invest in their local governments, specifically for sustainability projects. The scheme he outlined showed that the money would be invested into the city for a period of 5 to 8 years and promised a 1.5% to 2% dividend rate.
The idea of tapping into citizen wealth, specifically for green projects is fairly unexplored, however, there are a few prominent examples from the European Union. One of the most successful case studies involves the city of Vienna and their scheme to sell shares from photovoltaic plants.
The basic idea behind that plan is to let citizens share the climate transition period and become an active part of it. On the one hand, it’s a way for the city to source quick funds and on the other, citizens who cannot make their own PV systems can take part in the green transition.
Six cities (Barcelona, Istanbul, Velenje, Nuremberg, Vila Nova de Gaia, Eilat) offer suppliers €7.68 million to design, develop, and test an innovative Renovation Approach capable of generating Renovation Packages delivering 100% renewable energy supply (RES) to any existing non-residential building with adequate envelope quality. The Renovation Approach is to be tested through generating and implementing Renovation Packages for specific buildings in Buyers Group portfolios, the Demonstration Sites.
McKinsey argues that this costs will be covered by energy savings from the transition: the cost of getting to net zero is zero.
Poland has one of the largest housing stocks in Europe (almost 13.9 million residential units) but around 72% of the total was built using pre-1989 technologies. Around 70% of single-family houses in the country use coal for heating. Coal powers the bulk of electricity (90%) generated in Poland. The country also has one of the highest per capita rates of coal consumption in the world.
Achieving the UK’s goal of reaching ‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 will require far-reaching changes to transform the UK economy and put it on a more sustainable path. Greening the finance system is a key part of this transition. While aligning the private financial sector with the UK’s climate goals is an urgent priority, the scale and speed of the transition means that public finance must also lead by example.
"The platform – launching this year – aims to empower 1 billion people with distributed renewable energy (DRE). This is renewable energy generated from sources such as mini-grid and off-grid solutions, located near the point of use, rather than centralized sources like power plants," Ikea Foundation said in a statement.
This concerns the allotment of land for affordable housing
The Swedish city of Malmö might have found a way out of plaguing housing shortages with the development of a new model called Mallbo. This is an abbreviation of Malmö Allemansrätt Boende (Malmö Public Law Housing) and according to authorities, it represents both a model and a tool that will allow achieving the goal of a more sustainable housing market.
The EBRD has approved a new EUR 2 million credit line for financing investments in household energy efficiency in Kosovo*.
How can urban commons be financed? The Civic eState team explores social impact finance and financial investment with Eutropian, the European Investment Bank and the Trias Foundation
Despite the challenge posed by the pandemic for relational projects like Civic eState, the seven cities involved have not stopped working together – albeit digitally – and collaborating on shared horizons. Since the beginning of the lockdowns in various European countries, the Civic eState Network embarked on an exploration of possible financing instruments – like social outcome contracting and other social tools under the European Structural and Investment Funds(link is external) – to support the creation and management of urban commons in Covid and post-Covid times.
Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is a well-tested and successful tool that has been helping building owners reach their energy and climate targets more quickly than with traditional implementation of energy saving measures. Still there is potential for more use of EPC to reach unrealised saving potential in public sector. To promote the use of EPC, this guide introduces an improved implementation model based on the present market situation and experiences in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The main novelty aspect being contract-based partnership during the analysis phase of EPC projects.
Still there is potential for more use of EPC to reach unrealised saving potential in public sector.
To promote the use of EPC, this guide introduces an improved implementation model based on the present market situation and experiences in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The main novelty aspect being contract-based partnership during the analysis phase of EPC projects.
The European Investment Bank approved an investment of 3.7 billion euros, out of which, 381 million euros will go for transport, hospitals and schools. European cities and communities will benefit from the new EIB investment in various projects - some of which had already been started and others are just being approved. For example, in Jyvaskyla (Finland), the EIB has approved an investment to build 7 schools and day care centres whereas in Stockholm (Sweden) a commuter train modernisation project is underway. Wroclaw (Poland) has plans to improve energy efficiency, urban transport, education, sports and cultural facilities. Banja Luka, the second largest city in Bosnia and Herzegovina, will receive a new medical complex, including a training centre and a university clinic.
|
