Secretariat and EBRD issue joint Policy Guidelines to help countries design effective energy efficiency funding mechanisms

The Energy Community Secretariat and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have teamed up to issue joint Policy Guidelines to help Energy Community Contracting Parties to design and establish effective centralized financing mechanisms to boost energy efficiency investments.

Commenting on the Policy Guidelines, Janez Kopač, Director of the Energy Community Secretariat, said: “Attracting funding for energy efficiency is relatively easy, the tricky part is getting the design and governance structure of centralized energy efficiency finance schemes right. By sharing best practices, today’s Policy Guidelines can make a real difference for our Energy Community Contracting Parties and help energy efficiency improvements truly take off the ground”.

Nigel Jollands, Associate Director at the EBRD, added: “The Policy Guidelines distil best-practice on structuring effective and efficient centralised EE schemes, and will be a valuable resource for practitioners in the Energy Community navigating this complex area. Incidentally, the Guidelines would also be a useful reference for policy makers targeting job creating energy efficiency stimulus programmes as part of economic recovery packages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Under Article 3 of the current Energy Efficiency Directive, Energy Community Contracting Parties must achieve a 20% improvement in energy efficiency by 2020, with new targets for 2030 to soon be adopted. Centralised (publicly led) financing mechanisms can play an important role in achieving these savings.  The Policy Guidelines published today aim to support the design and establishment of such mechanisms, covering design considerations such as sources of funding, types of financial instruments, allocation approaches, and good governance. The recommendations are tailored to the specific circumstances of Energy Community Contracting Parties’ institutional and policy settings.

The document complements another Policy Guideline for designing energy efficiency obligation schemes issued jointly by the Secretariat and EBRD in 2019.