On 9th of October, in the framework of the EU Week of Regions and Cities, the H2020 PROSPECT project and the Covenant of Mayors Office jointly organised an event with support of the Caisse des Dépots et Consignations.

The full proceedings can be downloaded on this link

The presentations can be downloaded on this link

Panel discussion

The interactive event started with a panel discussion between three cities, Paris, FR, Leuven, BE and Litomerice, CZ and two financing institutions Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, FR and the European Investment Bank.

The cities discussed the following challenges:

- How to translate a city action plan into a strategic investment plan?

- How to prioritise the projects in the investment’s pipeline? How are the priorities decided?

- How to decide which financing sources to use and how to mobilise them?

The panellists explained how it was of utmost importance to have a strong political commitment and a stable political framework to move from an action plan to investments.

Working groups on examples of the investment plans implemented by local/regional authorities

The panel session was followed by working groups on examples of the investment plans implemented by local/regional authorities. The panelist were invited to discuss their investment plans more in detail with participants and were joined by a 4th speaker from the Upper Austria Energy agency (partner of the PROSPECT project)

Peer to peer training on innovative financing schemes in PROSPECT focus sectors:

The afternoon was dedicated to peer to peer training on innovative financing schemes in PROSPECT focus sectors:

Public buildings/Cross-Sectoral: the French city of Albertville, FR presented their intracting scheme to finance energy-savings measures especially in the public building stock. Their intracting financing scheme was launched in 2018 with an initial amount of EUR 113,610; this stands for 8% of annual energy expenses. The money saved thanks to the energy-saving measures is then given back to the finance department as reimbursement and is used to pay other energy-saving measures.

Public lighting: The Upper Austria Regional Energy agency explained the EPC facilitation service in Upper Austria which led to the development of a very dynamic EPC market in the region. In total the value of investments is around 65 M€ in the region and there are 30 ESCOs operating. This service supports municipalities and (potential) ESCOs in preparing and implementing streetlight refurbishment projects with EPC.

Private residential buildings:EuroPACE financing is used to collect the repayment for money that was lent for investments in building improvements that meet a ‘valid public purpose’, e.g. save or produce energy. Typically, investors lend money for deep retrofits up-front and then get repaid regularly through an additional charge added to the property (home based financing).

Private residential buildings: Hauts-de-France region, FR – SPEE Picardie. The Picardie Pass Renovation, the technical and financial instrument designed by the regional Public Service for Energy Efficiency to help significantly reduce energy consumption in residential buildings and boost the local economy. It is an innovative economic model in which there is a dedicated public fund, the PSEE which advances the amount allocated to renovation works; beneficiaries repay this advance through financial savings generated on their energy bill. The SPEE Picardie provides turnkey technical support coupled with an all-inclusive financing solution.

Transport: Metz, FR presented the city’s approach to stimulate the use of public transport and the related costs for implementing their system of busses of “Haut Niveau de Service”, which means busses of 24 m length on own tracks and high frequency. The system's investment costs are only half compared to a tram system.

Cross-sectoral: RESCOOP presented examples of partnerships between local authorities and local energy communities: city-citizens investments in local renewable energy

The full proceedings can be downloaded on this link

The presentations can be downloaded on this link