The methodology has been developed in a general template that allows project partners to assess, on a country-per-country basis the market characterization of existing and emerging Citizen Funding solutions and schemes for the energy sector (RES & EE3). This covers both funding through « crowdfunding platforms » as through « cooperative funding models ». The difference is covered in the definitions section. The objective of the Market Characterization analysis is to identify the key decisional elements that will serve the evaluation of the CFs4EE Financing Scheme to be developed and the Public Financing Instrument that will support the scheme. The template (see section 2.3) is based on a number of topics that need to be described and a number of questions that need to be answered.

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European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis said: “It is vital that we bring our homes and businesses into the 21^st century when it comes to their carbon footprint. I am very pleased that the Juncker Plan is supporting Lithuania’s first energy efficiency investment platform. Not only will the projects financed by this platform help Lithuania meet its sustainability objectives, but consumers will see a drop in their energy bills. A win-win.”

“As shown by the EIB’s previous experience, in particular through the JESSICA initiative in Lithuania, there is so much to gain from energy efficiency,” said EIB Vice President Alexander Stubb. “We often don’t realise it, but isolating our buildings, or using more efficient lighting, can make a huge difference to our use of energy. I feel that setting up this platform will not only have a substantial impact on people’s lives and their energy bills, but will also give visibility to an important issue in the current climate debate.”

“We are delighted to be in a partnership with the European Investment Bank in order to support energy efficiency investment platform. VIPA invites all legal entities to join energy efficiency project implementation in Lithuania as well as to apply for energy efficiency investment platform loans designed for increasing energy efficiency and to become prosumer” said Gvidas Dargužas, Chief Executive Officer of VIPA.

The establishment of the energy efficiency investment platform aligns with the policy priorities of the Lithuanian government in terms of energy efficiency and sustainability. This project falls partly under the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings (“SFSB”) Initiative, a joint initiative of the EIB Group and the European Commission (EC) aiming at supporting Energy Efficiency investments in buildings.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union, owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals. Over the last 5 years, the EIB made available over €1.1 billion in credit lines for SMEs as well as loans to the energy, transport and service sectors in Lithuania.

The Public Investment Development Agency (VIPA) is a state-owned National Promotional Institution (NPI) which provide loans, guarantees for repayable investments, implementation of similar measures for urban development, optimization of public infrastructure, and energy efficiency improvements in Lithuania. VIPA activities are financed by the European Union, national, and other financial assistance programmes and financing sources.

This agreement has been made possible thanks to the support of the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI). The EFSI is the pillar of the Investment Plan for Europe, known as the Juncker Plan. Its support increases the EIB Group’s capacity to finance investment projects that, in line with the Juncker Plan’s criteria, fosters the EU competitiveness and create new jobs. The Juncker Plan focuses on boosting investment to generate jobs and growth by making smarter use of new and existing financial resources, removing obstacles to investment, and providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects.

The EFSI provides first loss guarantees, enabling the EIB to invest in more projects that often come with greater risks. The projects and agreements approved for financing under EFSI are expected to mobilize €433.2 billion in investments. The Plan is currently supporting 972,000 SMEs in the 28 Member States. More information on the results of the Investment Plan for Europe is available here.

Source: European Commission https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_19_6066

The main objective of CitizEE is to support European public authorities to scale up funding for energy efficiency in the building sector through attracting citizen private investments.

CitizEE will address this objective by integrating tailored and widely adopted crowdfunding and cooperative financing schemes with adequate available or to be developed Public Financing Instruments (PFIs). As a result, CitizEE will enable to set up large-scale community energy efficiency programs while strengthening know-how of regional/national key stakeholders.

CitizEE innovation strategy project is conceived to support public authorities in a twofold purpose:

• Setting up Citizen Investment Platforms with respect to specific regulatory and market conditions of each pilot region/country bringing together all market players: citizens, associations and economic actors in their territory. These platforms will act as an advisory body with a strong focus on maximizing the interaction with Investment Platforms under the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) and complying with the rules for operating such Investment Platforms according to the “EFSI Regulation”, 2015/1017.
• Integrating crowdfunding and cooperative financing mechanisms within their public funding policy, programs and processes dedicated to energy efficiency by assessing CFs4EE Financing Schemes (Citizen models pooled with PFI) viability for upscaling energy efficiency investment programs.

To this end, among other activities, a detailed analysis of the different aspects and challenges surrounding crowdfunding and cooperative funding models will be ongoing throughout the project. This will be supported with benchmark study of existing and addressable Public Financing Instruments in order to implement optimal financing schemes for energy efficiency in the funding of global projects and/or large-scale programs. This will be completed with the development of policy recommendations for improving the framework and market conditions for target countries and at European level.

In addition, four demonstrators have been selected to show the replication possibilities of the project financing schemes proposed. The cases have been selected considering the following: (i) geographical representation across the European Union (Portugal, Belgium, Croatia and Lithuania). (ii) their commitment to invest in energy efficiency savings in buildings and established strategies to implement them in different market segments (adequate financing remains however a real barrier). (iii) various level of maturity in the development of the citizen financing market.

Furthermore, a strong exploitation strategy including capacity building activities will be carried out. The goal will be to deliver specific training to regional/national stakeholders and to promote the outcomes and replication potential of the schemes developed. Already a large number of individuals are expected to be trained within the project duration. In addition, CitizEE will gather regional/national stakeholders in working groups. Overall, the group discussions will target the integration of standardised citizen financing by kick-starting the Citizen Investment Platforms. Key role of these platforms will be to support the deployment of large-scale energy efficiency.

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The Smart Finance for Smart Buildings Initiative

The Commission has launched the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings(SFSB) initiative, as part of the ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans‘ package. Building on the Investment Plan for Europe, it includes practical solutions to mobilise private financing for energy efficiency and renewables in buildings in three main areas:

More effective use of public funds

At the EU level, the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) will allocate €18 billion to energy efficiency in the period 2014-2020. Boosting investment in sustainable energy projects is also one of the strategic priorities of the European Fund for Strategic Investments(EFSI). In addition, the EU has developed a number of other support schemes and funding programmes aiming to help businesses, regions, and countries successfully implement energy efficiency projects.

Read the full article: ec.europa.eu/energy/en/topics/energy-efficiency/financing-energy-efficiency