ELENA Funding: Removing barriers to sustainable investments

Sami Angsthelm and Giulia Rinaldi walk you through the challenges of large-scale sustainable investment planning and explain just how the ELENA technical assistance programme can address them.

Cities and regions will invest millions to achieve climate neutrality 

To successfully fulfil the EU Green Deal’s strategy to become climate neutral by 2050 and support a COVID recovery, the EU has allocated a budget of 1.8 trillion for funding and financing instruments. A major part of this budget will be spent on the decarbonisation of urban energy and transport. 

As of now, the EU building sector is responsible for around 40% of EU energy consumption. Of Europe’s 220 million buildings, a mere 1% undergoes energy efficiency renovations every year. More than €275 billion of additional investments must be mobilised every year in order to achieve climate targets by 2030.1 

With road transport accounting for 20% of global emissions alone, investments in sustainable alternative fuels and clean technologies are essential to achieve the transition. This mostly includes renewals of transport fleets by public authorities and companies.2

Local authorities lack major technical preparation to get bankable investments 

Lack of expertise is widely reported as the main barrier to sustainable investment planning. 43% of municipalities confirmed that technical capacity is a major obstacle. As a general rule, public authorities often lack technical, legal and financial expertise in the preparation of investments.3

Lack of human resources is another common barrier. Local authorities often have a limited workforce dedicated to the investment programme. As a matter of fact, such programmes are often led by internal project managers that do not have much time to dedicate to it.

Without effective structuring and technical preparation, sustainable investments are associated with higher risks and costs and are therefore forsaken by investors. 

ELENA grant: a solution for local authorities to unlock investments

ELENA is a grant programme that provides technical assistance for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments targeting buildings and innovative urban transport.

The grant can be used to finance costs related to feasibility and market studies, programme structuring, business plans, energy audits and financial structuring, as well as the preparation of tendering procedures, contractual arrangements and project implementation units.

The grant programme ensures that each investment plan is backed with the necessary expertise and preparation in order to attract and unlock final investments.

The programme usually provides grants between €1M and €3M in order to finance local internal workforces (existing or to be hired) and necessary external expertise (technical, legal, financial and commercial).

ELENA is the ideal funding instrument in order to make your investment project bankable. 

Previous investments supported by ELENA

URBAN ENERGY

In the Netherlands, ELENA has been supporting an investment programme to make the social housing sector more sustainable by renovating 1,000 social houses and constructing 600 ‘nearly zero-energy buildings’ (NZEB). 

Parteon, a social housing provider, received €1.7M to mobilise an investment of €76M for the preparation of the NZEB including electrical installation upgrades, window replacements, heating & ventilation upgrades, and envelope insulations improvements.

URBAN MOBILITY

ELENA is supporting an investment programme in Slovenia to improve sustainable urban mobility schemes such as electromobility (EV charging structure and electric vehicles), intelligent transport schemes, P&R facilities (to improve public transport accessibility) as well as an extensive cycling network programme.  

The Municipality of Novo Mesto gained access to a €2.4M grant for developing and preparing the mobility investment programme of €98.4M. 

Bax & Company helps clients to shape programme strategies and negotiate grants with the European Investment Bank (EIB).

We lead and advise on the grant application process and negotiation process with the EIB 

We support in shaping the programme strategy and management structure

We develop the work plan and the associated financial model with the client

You can find more information on our new Bax & Company website dedicated to the ELENA funding where we share our previous experience and in-depth practical information:

FIND OUT MORE

Get in touch with us today to arrange an introductory call to discuss your investment plan.

Recommended Posts
Building Energy communities in EuropeGeneral, Insights, Urban Energy
Green Boom or Energy Bust: Why Conventional Energy Could Cost More Than We Thought and What to Do About ItGeneral, Insights, Urban Energy