HORIZON 2020
ESI Europe – a H2020 Project
In February 2018, the Basel Agency for Sustainable Energy (BASE) Switzerland, the Italian Federation for Energy Efficiency (FIRE), Business Council for Sustainable Development Portugal (BCSD Portugal) and EnergyLab (Spain), launched a three-year project aimed at scaling up investments in energy efficiency. United Nations Environment Finance Initiative is also supporting the project.
The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) Europe project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme in the call for innovative financing scheme (EE-23-2017).
The project involves rolling out the ESI model in Italy, Portugal and Spain, and developing an ESI Europe Toolkit and video to enable the broader uptake of the model in other European countries.
Project Activities
Market Assessment
The first task of the ESI model implementation is conducting a market assessment with the main objective of gaining a deep understanding of the local market for energy efficiency; and to begin engaging all relevant stakeholders, including businesses, technology providers, local financial institutions and associations in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
ESI development
As a result of the market assessment, priority sectors with attractive energy efficiency business opportunities are identified for the initial ESI Europe project marketing and communication efforts. Priority technologies, key actors, and existing energy efficiency initiatives and financing options identified at the market assessment stage enable the development of the ESI elements and adaptation of the model to the local market.
Supporting Activities
The ESI Europe programme includes supporting activities, such as communication, promotion and marketing activities, capacity building for key market stakeholders, and support to build initial pipelines of energy efficiency projects that make use of the ESI model in Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Expected Impacts
The expected impacts include:
to have trained and increased capacity of 1,665 stakeholders after lifetime of the project.
to have mobilised between €978.6m and €1,711m private investment in EE projects within six years of project start.
to generate corresponding primary energy savings of between 1,582 and 2,766 GWh/year after six years of project start.
Dissemination
The project also involves dissemination efforts to promote the model more broadly across Europe, and the development of long lasting training tools. As part of the project, an ESI Europe toolkit and short video will be developed to enable the roll out of the model in other interested countries and sectors.
