The European portal for energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings
How to de-risk energy efficiency investments the building sector? EEnvest booklet explains how
Publication
Pan European
How to de-risk energy efficiency investments the building sector? EEnvest booklet explains how
As EEnvest project has now come to a conclusion, there is time to focus on what the project has achieved. This booklet comprises all the project´s results, targeting project promoters and investors in order to support them in de-risking energy efficiency investments in the building sector.
Editorial Team
The perception of risk surrounding building renovation operations is an important driver in most of the energy efficiency related financing operations. However, investment decisions in building renovation are still largely based on empirical methods which rely solely on company business specific experiences. Significant investments need to be mobilised to achieve the ambition set by the European Green Deal and the objective to reduce EU dependence on fossil fuels imports set out in the very recent REPowerEU plan.
While significant public sector expenditure is allocated to leverage private finance for sustainable energy (e.g. through the InvestEU facility), many private investors still lack sufficient incentives and tools to overcome the perceived complexity and risks associated with this kind of projects. Sustainable energy investments as investments in energy efficiency of buildings eventually integrating renewable energy sources, need de-risking and mainstreaming into the strategic and operational approaches of market actors, in particular private financial institutions i.e. investment funds.
On the other hand, the investment market is calling for solid knowledge-based evaluation methods to facilitate technical/financial due-diligence and drive financial operations related to energy retrofits of buildings. EEnvest aims at securing investors’ trust in energy efficiency actions for existing buildings, through the development of a combined technical-financial risk evaluation framework focused on the renovation of commercial buildings.
Having in mind the EU’s sustainable finance strategy, EEnvest aims to embed sustainability into investment processes by a proper implementation of the associated policies, in particular the EU taxonomy regulation, the proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, the Banking Package 2021, the EU green bond standard and labels for retail investment products, and propose a methodology to guide market actors to change their practices.
