EBRD to trigger investments of up to €15bn in energy efficiency, renewables in Eastern Europe

13 May 2009

The EBRD is to trigger investments in sustainable energy projects worth up to €15bn in the next three years in its drive to finance the development of new sources of clean energy and to reduce energy wastage throughout Eastern Europe.

The Bank’s own investments in sustainable energy projects through 2011 of between €3bn and €5bn are expected to attract further co-financing of up to €10bn.

The EBRD has already invested close to €3bn under its Sustainable Energy Initiative that was launched three years ago, according to a statement.

However, countries in the EBRD region continue to grapple with the legacy of cheap energy that made wastage an endemic problem. They remain the most energy intensive economies in the world when measured by carbon emissions per unit of GDP. The potential for further reductions remains huge.

The EBRD’s strategy to help mitigate the impact of climate change is to attack this widespread energy wastage with energy efficiency projects but also to tap new sustainable sources of energy via investments in renewables, the Bank said.

‘Reducing energy wastage in eastern Europe and developing reliable new supplies of sustainable energy remain core to the EBRD’s future strategy,’ said EBRD president Thomas Mirow. ‘Energy efficiency helps increase competitiveness. It is a key part of the transition proces,’ he added.

The first stage of the EBRD’s Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI) was launched in May 2006 as a response to the rising challenges of climate change.

The main elements of the initiative were investments in large-scale industrial energy efficiency, power sector and municipal infrastructure energy efficiency as well as the development of renewables.

The EBRD’s investments in sustainable energy from May 2006 up until the end of 2008 reached €2.7 bn, outstripping the original target of €1.5bn by 77 per cent. There were a total of 166 investments in 24 countries for a total project value of €14bn.

The Bank also launched new facilities to finance sustainable energy projects via financial intermediaries and supported the development of the carbon market.

According to the Bank, over the next three years, it will build on the work done so far and target additional types of investment, including energy efficiency in buildings and the transport sector, climate change mitigation in natural resources, stationary use of biomass and investments in climate change adaptation.

The EBRD will also develop new products, widening the range of financing instruments supporting sustainable energy investments.

The EBRD, owned by 61 countries and two intergovernmental institutions, is supporting the development of market economies and democracies in countries from central Europe to central Asia.

Copyright © 2009 newnet

Tags: biomass, climate change, energy efficiency, transport

This story was published on Wednesday, May 13th, 2009 at 1:05 pm and is filed under Features. You can follow any responses to article entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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