RSS
EBRD plans to lend 70 mln euro to back Romania's residential sector green development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Friday that it aims to lend up to 70 million euro ($73.8 million) to support investments in Romania's residential sector covering energy efficiency, building-integrated renewable energy and water efficiency measures, seenews.com reports.
To that end, the EBRD is planning to launch a Romania Green Economy Financing Facility, the EBRD said in a press release.
The implementation of the facility will be supported by a dedicated technical cooperation package for a period of up to three years to support both the participating financial institutions and sub-borrowers.
The EBRD now intends to engage a consulting company to support the implementation of the project.
This is not EBRD's first such project in Romania. In 2007, the bank launched its first the Energy Efficiency Finance Facility (EEFF) and in 2011, it developed the Romania SME Sustainable Energy Finance Facility (RoSEFF).
With energy intensity almost three times higher than the EU-28 average, Romania remains one of the most energy and carbon-intensive economies in the EU, EBRD noted. The residential sector has the highest final energy consumption of all sectors in the country with about 90% of the building stock in need of modernisation, it added.
Romania has adopted a national target to reduce primary energy consumption by 19% by 2020 and the residential sector has an important part to play in meeting this target.
A study commissioned by the Romanian Energy Regulator and overseen by the EBRD, estimated that energy efficiency upgrades in the residential sector could make the largest sectoral contribution towards achieving the national target. The study also found that the energy saving potential from thermal insulation of multi-family apartment blocks was approximately 40%, EBRD data showed