The implementation
of the innovative ESI
model in Europe!

The ESI model was developed by BASE, in collaboration with multilateral development banks, as a result of an extended experience of BASE in promoting investment in energy efficiency and the many lessons learnt through this journey. Conducting energy audits to companies as well as the availability of green credit lines from banks were not strong enough incentives to unlock energy efficient investments. One of the main barriers perceived from the potential end users of this investment, was the high risks of these energy efficiency upgrades not delivering the savings promised.

Hence, the idea of an insurance-based model that would help drive investments in energy-efficient systems by Small and Medium-sized businesses (SMEs) first germinated in 2015 in Latin America. BASE shaped it into the ESI model and set it into motion in Colombia and Mexico first.

This raised a big interest among stakeholders in other parts of the region, and the model is currently being used in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, Peru, Chile, Argentina, and Paraguay.

In 2016 the ESI model was recognised by the Global Innovation Lab for Climate Finance as one of the most promising instruments to mobilise private sector investments in energy efficiency, and has also been featured in the G20 Energy Efficiency Investment Toolkit.

Building on these achievements, the model was first introduced in Europe in 2018 in three countries: Italy, Portugal and Spain where it successfully gathered different local stakeholders.

In 2020, the ESI model featured in the Swiss Sustainable Finance compendium of instruments “Financing the Low Carbon Economy.


Within the same year the GoSafe with ESI brand was launched and aimed at bringing the ESI model to the market, with the specific purpose of communicating directly to potential users and technology providers interested in offering the solution.

After successfully implementing the ESI model in different countries and contexts, in 2021 three new countries in Europe are adopting the model in their markets: Croatia, Greece, and Slovakia. The model is as well under development in Mongolia and Morocco.