New tools for Energy Efficiency and Biodiversity

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Following the commitments made under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change, the European Union has adopted a strategy to:

  • reduce energy consumption;
  • reduce the emission of gases, capable of altering the climate;
  • increase the presence of renewable sources, in the total of the sources used.

In line with this strategy, there are two new financial instruments established by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission. The first tool is the "Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE)", for which an 80 million Euros budget has been allocated for the 2014/2017 period, which is to be allocated also as a Portfolio Credit Risk Protection Fund and energy efficiency loans from local financial intermediaries, in order to encourage the granting of soft loans to final recipients. The loans will have to be defined within the national energy efficiency plans (NEEAP) of each Member State. As well as SMEs, the final target groups may include individuals, real estate owners' associations, public institutions and bodies that promote projects and invest in energy efficiency.

The second instrument is the "Natural Capital Financing Facility (NCFF)". It is a Fund which, through the combination of EIB financing and resources made available by the LIFE Programme, can facilitate up to 75% of the total cost of projects to enhance natural capital and biodiversity, for the preservation of ecosystem services and the improvement of adaptability to climate change. The incentive will be able to finance plans for the realization of green infrastructures, established as systems of reuse of the rainwater collection, spreading green roofs to contribute to the reduction of thermal dispersions of buildings and CO2 emissions into the air.

For more information, please visit these thematic websites:

Private Finance for Energy Efficiency (PF4EE) 

 Natural Capital Financing Facility. 

 

Updated on 22/10/2020