On Energy Efficiency Investments

Discussing sustainable energy investment in EU Member States – national finance roundtables organised across Europe

Access to private finance for energy efficiency and integrated renewables remains a challenge in order to achieve the European and National climate and energy targets and to ensure an acceleration of the clean energy transition.

Technical projects are looking for finance, while the finance sector is looking for projects to be financed. In the meantime, time is ticking: significant investments need to be mobilised to achieve the 2030 and 2050 climate and energy targets.

The provisional agreement reached on the 10th March 2023 between the European Parliament and the Council to reform the EU Energy Efficiency Directive strengthens the provisions on energy efficiency financing to facilitate the mobilisation of investments. One obstacle to the use of private finance for energy efficiency and integrated renewables is the lack of common understanding of the topic between government, public sector, private sector and financial sector, as recognised by the Renovation Wave Communication.

The European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) set up the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums in 2016, in co-operation with DG Energy. The initiative focuses on organising conferences and national roundtables in European capitals, in order to improve dialogue and co-operation between government, private sector and financial institutions, and to develop large-scale investment programmes mobilising private finance for investments in buildings and businesses. More than 50 conferences, national finance roundtables and webinars have been organised by the European Commission over the last years, in close co-operation with the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG). The materials produced are available on the page of the initiative: Sustainable Energy Investment Forums (europa.eu).

In addition, CINEA funds through Horizon 2020 seven projects building on the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums. These projects are also organising national (and in some cases also regional) finance roundtables in Spain (AUNA), Greece, Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria (SMAFIN), Denmark, Latvia and Poland (ROUNDBALTIC), Italy (GREENROAD), Czech Republic and Slovakia (GreenDeal4Buildings), Germany (Green Home) and Bulgaria (BeSmart). Additional projects are being selected under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition programme and are expected to start in the second half of 2023. Each of these projects is preparing policy recommendations related to the development of financial instruments and addressing the key barriers faced by market players involved in the dialogue process. These recommendation are country-specific and can be found on the website of each project.

Parties interested in being associated with the roundtables and working groups set up by those 7 Horizon 2020 projects are invited to approach the projects directly. Parties interested in receiving updates on the process in other EU countries can contact the CINEA team at CINEA-LIFE-CET@ec.europa.eu.