Making clean energy financing a better investment option in Europe and beyond

Adapted from a post first published on EDF’s Energy Exchange blog.

We’ve known for a long time that energy efficiency is a key tool in the effort to combat global climate change. Figuring out who should pay for such upgrades has been harder.

To bring private-sector investors to the market, the Investor Confidence Project (ICP) seeks to make clean energy financing a more attractive investment option, in part by establishing protocols and metrics.

Today, the project is accelerating the development of a global energy efficiency market by standardizing how energy efficiency projects are developed and energy savings are calculated – a highly technical undertaking with potentially huge implications.

Europe is getting onboard

Introduced in November 2014, Environmental Defense Fund’s ICP Europe has been gaining momentum among the European public and private sectors, with financial and engineering communities recognizing the need for the type of standardization ICP Europe offers.

Another sign the project is gaining traction was the European Commission’s recent decision to award a €1.9-million grant to ICP Europe. Among other things, the grant will pay for a consortium of companies to organize National Steering Groups in five countries – Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom – to take the protocols to markets in those countries.

To cap it off, the European Commission’s main energy website unveiled a new Financing Energy Efficiency webpage that listed ICP Europe as a recommended initiative. It was the only initiative listed not related to the European Commission.

The ICP Europe team will work to embed energy efficient protocols in building energy renovation programs around the European market.  

With time and savvy investment, we hope the initiative in five European countries will spread across the entire economic region.