18 May 2012: The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced that it is stepping up investments to improve energy efficiency and address climate change via new investment in projects worth up to €25 billion over the next three years, under the new phase of the Bank’s Sustainable Energy Initiative (SEI).

Building on the substantial achievements of its first six years in financing energy efficiency and renewable energy, under SEI’s third stage, EBRD will seek to contribute to an annual cut in carbon emissions in its countries of operation by up to 32 million tons, while also responding to challenges of energy security and financial and economic uncertainty in the region in the face of climate change. Josué Tanaka, Managing Director for Energy Efficiency and Climate Change, noted that the past achievements and experience will assist with the scaling-up of financing to address climate change, especially by reducing energy waste and therefore greenhouse gas emissions.

In the past year, EBRD financed 111 operations in the field of sustainable energy production, equalling almost 30 per cent of its total 2011 investments. In the new phase, EBRD aims for a financing target of €4.5 to €6.5 billion of its own funds, with a total project value of up to €25 billion for the period 2012 to 2014. The target range for the annual reduction of carbon emission is 26 to 32 million tonnes of CO2. [EBRD News]