Periodic Reporting for period 2 - ESI Europe 2.0 (Driving Investment in Energy Efficiency through Energy Savings Insurance in Europe 2.0)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2023-03-01 do 2024-12-31
The European Green Deal aims at delivering the EU vision of a climate-neutral continent by 2050 and sets clear targets for emission reductions, renewable energy production and energy efficiency (EE). This will not only require the mobilisation of financial resources from public actors but, more importantly, from the private sector.
In Europe, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute over 99 percent of all enterprises and represent a substantial market opportunity for energy efficiency improvements. However, this opportunity remains largely untapped due to barriers such as high upfront costs, lack of access to finance, high perceived risk, lack of trust in new technologies, competing investment priorities, lack of knowledge and awareness, and split incentives.
The overall objective of the ESI Europe 2.0 project is to scale up investments in energy efficiency in Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia by creating trust amongst actors, and facilitating the flow of financing for relevant technology solutions. The ESI model targets SMEs and creates the conditions for them to invest in energy-efficient technologies, by reducing their investment risk associated with energy efficiency and stimulate the demand for EE projects.
In Europe, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) constitute over 99 percent of all enterprises and represent a substantial market opportunity for energy efficiency improvements. However, this opportunity remains largely untapped due to barriers such as high upfront costs, lack of access to finance, high perceived risk, lack of trust in new technologies, competing investment priorities, lack of knowledge and awareness, and split incentives.
The overall objective of the ESI Europe 2.0 project is to scale up investments in energy efficiency in Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia by creating trust amongst actors, and facilitating the flow of financing for relevant technology solutions. The ESI model targets SMEs and creates the conditions for them to invest in energy-efficient technologies, by reducing their investment risk associated with energy efficiency and stimulate the demand for EE projects.
The rollout of the ESI model through the ESI Europe 2.0 project is done via a set of activities that are designed to complement each other in achieving the overall objective.
The work started with having market assessments performed in each of the 3 countries, where priority sectors and technologies were identified for the model to be implemented. The sectors identified in the three countries were the hotel and accommodation, food and wood processing industries, as well as the manufacture of motor vehicles. Regarding the technologies, Solar PV, LED Lighting, Solar Water Heaters, HVAC systems, were among the technologies with the most potential to adopt the ESI model.
After having the market results in place, a second assessment was done with the focus on the local financial sector by screening the market of local private financial institutions and by evaluating the adaptation of the ESI model to this market. Adding to that, economic models were simulated for each of the prioritised technologies, feeding the system with real economic indicators. This gave a first snapshot on what the potential IRR and payback time would be for each of the investments in the specific EE technologies.
Once having a good perception of the market situation, the work continued with adapting all the ESI model elements (Validation Process, Standardised Contract, Insurance Product ) to the context of Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia, and engaging the main stakeholders in each of the markets (Validation Entity, Legal Firm, Technology Providers, Insurance Companies, Banks and SMEs).
When it comes to engaging stakeholders, different methods were used from the consortium, such as: through desk research, phone calls, in person meetings, online meetings and consultation workshops. After the elements have been created in each country, the launch of the GoSafe with ESI happened for identifying the pilot projects and building the pipeline of EE investments. This activity was strongly supported by the tools and strategies created for communication, marketing and dissemination throughout this project period. The ESI Europe and GoSafe with ESI website were updated, with the purpose of the former one to disseminate project and the ESI model information, and the purpose of the later one to be used as a commercial tool where SMEs and technology providers can actively consult the model information and documentation and can easily implement the model in their projects.
As a result, the impact reached within the duration of the project was a pipeline of EUR 1.9 million of investments in 18 EE projects in the three countries:
- EUR 300’000 from 3 different projects in Croatia
- EUR 1’440’455,00 from 14 projects in Greece
- EUR 171’000 from 1 project in Slovakia
Furthermore, the consortium has managed to engage several companies in the duration of the project and with 17 of them Memorandum of Understandings were signed, being 3 with insurance companies (one in each country) and 14 with technology providers (3 in Croatia, 7 in Greece and 4 in Slovakia).
Capacity building activities activities reached approximately 442 individuals in Croatia (83), Greece (129) and Slovakia (230) from TPs, SMEs, FIs and insurance sectors through in-person and online sessions, while dissemination activities reach approximately 1’000 individuals (815 in person and other 185 online) from a broader European audience and around the globe. On social media, the outreach surpassed 35'200 through more than 100 posts distributed on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram through the channels of the four consortium partners during the almost 3.5 years of duration of the project.
The work started with having market assessments performed in each of the 3 countries, where priority sectors and technologies were identified for the model to be implemented. The sectors identified in the three countries were the hotel and accommodation, food and wood processing industries, as well as the manufacture of motor vehicles. Regarding the technologies, Solar PV, LED Lighting, Solar Water Heaters, HVAC systems, were among the technologies with the most potential to adopt the ESI model.
After having the market results in place, a second assessment was done with the focus on the local financial sector by screening the market of local private financial institutions and by evaluating the adaptation of the ESI model to this market. Adding to that, economic models were simulated for each of the prioritised technologies, feeding the system with real economic indicators. This gave a first snapshot on what the potential IRR and payback time would be for each of the investments in the specific EE technologies.
Once having a good perception of the market situation, the work continued with adapting all the ESI model elements (Validation Process, Standardised Contract, Insurance Product ) to the context of Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia, and engaging the main stakeholders in each of the markets (Validation Entity, Legal Firm, Technology Providers, Insurance Companies, Banks and SMEs).
When it comes to engaging stakeholders, different methods were used from the consortium, such as: through desk research, phone calls, in person meetings, online meetings and consultation workshops. After the elements have been created in each country, the launch of the GoSafe with ESI happened for identifying the pilot projects and building the pipeline of EE investments. This activity was strongly supported by the tools and strategies created for communication, marketing and dissemination throughout this project period. The ESI Europe and GoSafe with ESI website were updated, with the purpose of the former one to disseminate project and the ESI model information, and the purpose of the later one to be used as a commercial tool where SMEs and technology providers can actively consult the model information and documentation and can easily implement the model in their projects.
As a result, the impact reached within the duration of the project was a pipeline of EUR 1.9 million of investments in 18 EE projects in the three countries:
- EUR 300’000 from 3 different projects in Croatia
- EUR 1’440’455,00 from 14 projects in Greece
- EUR 171’000 from 1 project in Slovakia
Furthermore, the consortium has managed to engage several companies in the duration of the project and with 17 of them Memorandum of Understandings were signed, being 3 with insurance companies (one in each country) and 14 with technology providers (3 in Croatia, 7 in Greece and 4 in Slovakia).
Capacity building activities activities reached approximately 442 individuals in Croatia (83), Greece (129) and Slovakia (230) from TPs, SMEs, FIs and insurance sectors through in-person and online sessions, while dissemination activities reach approximately 1’000 individuals (815 in person and other 185 online) from a broader European audience and around the globe. On social media, the outreach surpassed 35'200 through more than 100 posts distributed on LinkedIn, X, Facebook and Instagram through the channels of the four consortium partners during the almost 3.5 years of duration of the project.
In parallel to the stakeholder engagement and building the pipeline of EE investments, the ESI Europe 2.0 consortium worked on the adaptation of the online platform (management information system, or MIS) for the three new ESI Europe countries of Croatia, Greece and Slovakia and additional upgrades were introduced. The consortium worked to develop a tool to calculate the actual avoided carbon emission from the energy efficiency projects. The vision of the MIS is not only to be an efficient, transparent tool of information and documentation exchange among the stakeholders during the project implementation, but also to generate reports on the avoided carbon emission from these specific projects. This reporting can be further used by the stakeholders (insurance companies, banks) to report on their portfolio carbon emission. We envision that with the near future development of the carbon market, the reporting on the actual carbon emission reductions from energy efficient projects, will fit well to the market needs. The MIS is developed in a blockchain technology which ensures transparency and trust among stakeholders.
To facilitate the better understanding of the use both of the MIS and the avoided emission tools, the consortium prepared video tutorias that are annexed to the adapted ESI Europe 2.0 Toolkit. This contains the most important tools, information and lessons learnt for an implementation of the GoSafe with ESI business in a new market.
To facilitate the better understanding of the use both of the MIS and the avoided emission tools, the consortium prepared video tutorias that are annexed to the adapted ESI Europe 2.0 Toolkit. This contains the most important tools, information and lessons learnt for an implementation of the GoSafe with ESI business in a new market.