Short description of the overall project

1. Due to a long period of neglect and under-investment during and after the Bosnian war (1992-1995), public infrastructure, in particular buildings, in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) is now in a dire state and in urgent need of upgrade and modernization. In its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement, BiH explicitly recognizes the potential of public sector buildings for GHG emission reduction and emphasizes that to “increase emission reduction amount and develop a sustainable system for public building renovation, international financial support is required”. 

2. The project seeks a total of US$ 17.346 million of GCF grant resources to overcome identified barriers to investment in low-carbon retrofits of public buildings and to leverage an additional US$ 105.22 million of co-finance from a range of sources, such as the Environmental Funds, entity and municipal budgets, and international organizations (UNDP, GEF, World Bank, SIDA), by addressing country and sector-specific investment risks, as follows: 

• Output 1 will provide technical assistance (TA) to public and private sector stakeholders at municipal, cantonal, entity and national level in BiH to help address non-financial barriers, and to create conducive policies, regulations and capacities for implementation of the National Investment Framework for Low-Carbon Public Buildings

• Output 2 will facilitate implementation of the National Investment Framework for Low-Carbon Public Buildings, including the required investment support to improve risk-return profiles and to bring prospective low-carbon building projects to financial close. 

3. Overall, the project will result in a direct reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of 2,02 million tCO2e over the lifetime of the investments enabled, at a cost to the GCF of US$ 9/tCO2e. Additionally, significant indirect emissions can be expected –7.1 - 8.1 million tonnes of CO2 reduction due to the project enabled market transformation – yielding a total estimated cost per tonne of CO2 reduced to US $1.8. The project will also directly benefit 150,000 people – occupants and users of public buildings (4% of the total population), including 80,000 women, and will lead to creation of over 5,630 new full-time equivalent (FTE)jobs.