Is your city in need of sustainable energy investments?
by Sini Lamoureux | sini.lamoureux@turku.fi
In line with the Paris Agreement and the 2030 goals for climate and energy set by the European Commission, there is a great need for cities, municipalities and local authorities to invest in sustainable energy and climate solutions. However, many public stakeholders struggle with limited human resources and capacity and overcoming financial barriers. A lack of experience in developing sound investment packages can be a significant barrier especially for smaller and medium sized cities and municipalities. The European City Facility (EUCF) is an initiative to support local investments in sustainable energy. The objective of the EUCF is to is to facilitate access to private and EU financing along with access to technical, legal and financial expertise. Successful applicants will receive a grant of 60 000 euros that is to be used for developing an energy investment program. The grant is not meant for directly financing investments but rather to access services and develop an investment concept. Investment concept examples: • Identification of potential project pipeline • Analysis of local stakeholders controlling the pipeline • Legal Analysis (regional, national, international) • Pre-feasibility analysis of available financing solutions • Roadmap: basic process to launch investments How and when can UBC cities apply? Eligible for applying for a grant are cities, municipalities and local authorities that can answer YES to the following questions:
2. Is your municipality/local authority or grouping located entirely in the EU-27 Member States or Norway? 3. Will you be able to provide a proof of political commitment to develop the investment concept by your mayor or other political representatives? 4. Does your municipality/local authority have a politically approved SEAP, SECAP or plan of similar ambition? 5. Can you commit to the EUCF monitoring period of two years? From the start in 2020 to 2022 there will be in total four calls of which the second is currently on-going: • 1st call Spring 2020 • 2nd call 29 March 2021–31 May 2021 • 3rd call October–November 2021 • 4th call May–June 2022 More detailed information about eligibility and the second call can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants. During spring 2021 webinars about the second call are being organized in local languages for eligible countries. Follow the EUCF event list to see when your country’s webinar is being organized. More information can be found on the EUCF website. For any further questions, contact Sini Lamoureux (sini.lamoureux@turku.fi), EUCF contact person at the UBC SCC.
1. Are you a municipality/local authority or grouping of municipalities/local authorities? 31 31 Photo: The
