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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.
The EBRD has approved a new EUR 2 million credit line for financing investments in household energy efficiency in Kosovo*.
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.
Investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy has never been so rewarding and so easy. The new 'Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings' programme has been launched, featuring a streamlined application procedure for all funding – including large amounts. The Federal Government wants to achieve these savings primarily through the 'Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings' (Bundesförderung für effiziente Gebäude – BEG) (in German only) programme, which was launched on 1 January 2021 and forms a core element of the 2030 Climate Action Programme (in German only) . The funding is to give a powerful boost to the energy transition in the buildings sector and replaces previous programmes to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in this segment. These include the successful 'CO2 Building Modernisation Programme' (implemented as the KfW 'Energy-efficient Construction and Refurbishment' programme) and the 'Market Incentive Programme' to promote the use of renewables for heating – applications for which hit a record high (in German only) in 2020.
The City of Ghent will be providing low-interest long-term loans to its citizens. The advantageous funding amounts to 13 million euros and is meant to facilitate the energy transition of households and the city as a whole. The new system is expected to start operating from next spring.
The residents of the Flemish city are in great need of energy loans as half of them lack the financial means to invest in climate renovations. This is what a study by Professor Johan Albrecht from the University of Ghent and the Agoria Industry Federation have concluded. Based on their findings and on the need to improve the quality of life of local residents, the city administration decided to launch a rolling fund with advantageous loans, open to everyone who needs them.
Ukraine will increase the energy efficiency of some 1 000 public buildings and reduce energy consumption with a €300 million loan from the EIB. The loan will save 1 250 000 tonnes of CO2 and benefit 2.5 million people. Substantial grant contributions from the E5P and the EU are expected to complement the loan. The EU bank’s investment will improve the medium and long-term resilience to COVID-19 of the country’s public buildings, especially hospitals.
According to the recently published Energy Transition Tracker, the energy-saving measures could lead to additional investments worth EUR 2.5 billion in the Western Balkans. Under the Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Community contracting parties need to improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020, with new targets for 2030 to soon be adopted.
A smart pathway to economic recovery after COVID-19 crisis
Energy efficiency through its multiple benefits should not only be treated as “the first fuel”, but also as a source of economic regeneration post the coronavirus.
For this to happen, there is a need for enhanced investment in building renovations, increased use of sustainable heating and cooling, support for economies to produce nationally and install energy efficient technologies in residential, public and commercial buildings.
The WBIF publication Investing in Clean Energy in the Western Balkans identified that energy efficiency investment needs in the region's buildings sector alone are probably in excess of €3 billion.
Utrecht is allocating 1.15 million euros to support homeowners in saving more energy, announced the municipality on Friday. The support aims to promote behavioural measures that should lead to lower energy consumption in the home. With the money, half of which comes from the Government, the municipality expects to reach even more people and encourage homeowners to learn about and actively implement energy saving measures.
Energy efficiency and renewables represent the most promising pathway to lower energy costs for individual consumers and utilities. But limited access hinders progress. Utilities can knock down major barriers to energy efficiency and renewables by allowing customers to make site-specific investments and recovering utility costs through an opt-in tariff. … Read More
Île-de-France Energies, the energy transition operator in the Paris Region, developed a unique financing scheme for energy saving works in collective housing. It now offers third-party financing for an all-inclusive energy renovation package for multi-family buildings it supports. €100 million available for energy renovation of multi-family buildings in the Paris Region
Access to financing is not the only bottleneck in the building renovation value chain. In addition, the risk assessment methods currently available are lacking enough certainty to meet the requirements of investors.
On 30 April, EASME organised a webinar on the finance topics in the Energy Efficiency Call 2019 for potential applicants. The presentations and the recordings of the webinar are now available. The Financing Energy Efficiency webinar covered the topics on integrated home renovation services and project development assistance, innovative finacing and mainstreaming energy efficiency finance. You will find below the links to the presentations:
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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.
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 Beacon is a quarterly newsletter with stories, news and developments on financial instruments in the context of Cohesion Policy. The winter edition, published last week, features among other things a significant study on residential energy efficiency financial instruments in Lithuania, two new videos on the combination of grants and financial instruments, as well as a new podcast episode on how ESIF Financial instruments support the development of the Venture Capital/Private Equity ecosystem in Greece.
Green Lease Contracting Green leasing contracting is a good way to motivate both building owner and tenant to adopt energy saving measures. By reaching this kind of agreement, energy savings will be shared in a way that both parties will gain on the savings. The contract also contributes to a dialog between partners and puts […]
There needs to be more effort in easing access to financial backing in order to take full advantage of Europe’s Renovation Wave, says Louise White and Reinhard Six from the European Investment Bank (EIB)
The European Commission’s strategy to double EU renovation rates by 2030 is rightly ambitious, but lacks the firepower needed to deliver.
We assessed whether EU co-funded energy efficiency investments in buildings had cost-effectively helped the EU toward its 2020 energy saving target. We concluded that the operational programmes and the project selection were not driven by a cost-effectiveness rationale. While Member States required buildings to be renovated to save a minimum of energy and improve their energy rating, this sometimes happened at a high cost. Because of a lack of comparative assessment of project merits and of minimum/maximum thresholds for cost-effectiveness, projects delivering higher energy savings or other benefits at lower cost were not prioritised. We recommend improving the planning, selection and monitoring of the investments to improve the cost-effectiveness of the spending.
Green buildings are a global trend – and developers around the world are implementing business models that have green building elements at their core. In December 2019, PEEB released a publication called Business Models for Green Buildings to serve as an inspiration for actors along the green building value chain to adapt and expand their activities.
Although the North-West Europe area is considered as one of the most dynamic and prosperous areas of the European Union, households from some regions still face severe difficulties in affording their energy bills or suffer from a lack of adequate energy services at home. Generated in many cases by low energy performances in buildings, energy poverty is a common challenge to almost all urban areas of NWE, as 80% of the residential housing stock dates from pre 1990’s.
Investments in energy efficiency are able, in most cases, to support citizens in the reduction of energy bills, lowering their dependence on external suppliers, as well as to decrease the environmental impact from energy consumption.
The building sector is a significant contributor to Europe’s carbon emissions, and needs to be tackled in order reach our climate obligations underthe Paris agreement. However, numerous barriers in knowledge, awareness,trust, finance and market development mean that renovation rates of private households remain low, and of limited impact. Many policy interventions are possible for regions that wish to overcome these barriers, including information campaigns, provision of financing and training of construction companies. These instruments are well tested in Europe’s regions, but the process of home renovation remains complex and daunting for homeowners, and significant effort needs to be made to reduce fragmentation. One-Stop-Shops (OSS) bring together the full gamut of policy interventions into a single body, working with stakeholders to provide all required skills andknowledge for home renovation, significantly reducing the burden for homeowners to improvetheir energyperformance.
The aim of ALDREN T2.5 is to propose a methodology to link the European Voluntary energy performance Certificate (EVC) indicators resulting from T2.1, T2.2, T2.3 and T2.4 to economic and financial indicators so as to better highlight financial benefits of energy, health and comfort upgrades in terms of asset value and risk protection.
The methodology proposed consists in additional financial indicators to be added in the building passport and EVC as well as guidance ("protocol") on how to calculate these indicators based o the outcomes of T2.1, T2.2, T2.3 and T2.4, and how to use all this information to better integrate energy, health and comfort topics into financial valuation, risk appraisal and renovation decisions.
The European Investment Bank developed a new tool, the Energy Efficiency Quick Estimator, or EEQuest. This tool estimates the savings potential for about 20 typical energy efficiency projects, such as replacing a boiler or adding LED lights and solar panels. Clients enter basic technical data, such as the project’s location and whether solar panels will be integrated into a new building or added to an old building, and the tool estimates energy savings, cost savings and carbon emission reductions.
More lending in energy efficiency
The EEQuest tool was developed under the EU bank’s Private Finance for Energy Efficiency programme. This programme, supported by the European Commission, offers loans and credit-risk protection to partner banks to encourage energy efficiency lending.
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