Worldwide, 92 percent of the population do not breathe clean air and air pollution hits countries in the Balkans region especially hard. World Environment Day 2019 urges businesses, communities and individuals to come together to explore renewable energy and green technologies that can improve air quality across the world.
The EBRD does by engaging local communities. Through local partner financial institutions, the facility provides funds for investments into highly-efficient energy technologies for the residential sector.
The European Union’s investment incentive of up to 20 percent helps to make the loan more affordable to clients. Upon the investment’s completion and verification, clients may receive the incentive in the form of a cashback.
Every household can contribute by consuming energy more efficiently. This in turn helps reduce air pollution. By using energy-efficient solutions such as modern windows and doors, heating/cooling systems and systems used for insulation, households can significantly reduce their carbon footprint while at the same time achieve significant savings.
Although WB GEFF has been in operation for only one and half years, the programme has already reached almost 1,500 families in the Western Balkans, demonstrating the strong demand for green lending in the region.
In the effort to make information on energy efficiency technologies easily available to homeowners, the facility has been using the EBRD’s innovative, user-friendly Technology Selector. This online platform lists over 18,000 highly energy efficient products pre-approved for financing from 13 categories, offered by almost 4,500 vendors throughout the Western Balkans.
EBRD GEFF was made possible with the support of the European Union (EU), the Austrian Ministry of Finance (BMF) and the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF), in cooperation with the Energy Community Secretariat (ECS), EBRD reports.
