The Green for Growth Fund (GGF) supports sustainable energy finance and green energy projects through funding, know-how and the tools to succeed in the market. Serbia represents one of the Fund’s largest portfolios and with more than EUR 90 million invested, it is one of the GGF’s biggest success stories to date.
The GGF, which was initiated as a public-private partnership in December 2009 by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and German development bank KfW, offers various financing instruments, which combined with targeted technical assistance, ensure the long-term effectiveness of its investments. The Fund’s minimum target for all measures it supports is a 20 % reduction in energy use, CO2 emissions or both.
The Fund has been very supportive of the Serbian government’s efforts to increase energy savings, says Aleksandar Stojkov, Senior Investment Officer, Finance in Motion, which advises the GGF.
Several banks in Serbia are offering energy efficiency loans to private individuals that are looking to invest in home improvement measures, SMEs that are looking to improve their production, public companies, and others, adds Stojkov.
“Serbia is a very important target country for the Fund. The portfolio in Serbia is generating on an annual level primary energy savings of over 500,000 MWh and at the same time also over 150,000 tons of CO2 reduction. And with this achievement on an annual basis it is contributing to about 30% of the overall impact of the fund,” says Stojkov.
KEPO, Univer Savić use energy efficiency loans to become more energy, cost-efficient
Since 2015, the GGF has worked successfully with local intermediaries such as ProCredit Bank to provide energy efficiency loans and innovative services, helping companies become more energy and cost efficient.
An example is KEPO, an innovative company that produces biomass pellet heaters. Thanks to an energy efficiency loan, enabled by the GGF, the company was able to buy a new laser-cutting tool that helps save resources.
“The financing we received from ProCredit Bank was used to buy a new automated machine that’s used to produce biomass pellet heaters. The use of biomass pellets has many benefits. Not only is it a sustainable fuel, it is also much more convenient: no need to cut wood or load coal. This is why many people are turning to this type of heating and I believe it is the future,” says KEPO’s owner, Dragan Blagojević.
Univer Savić is a company that produces wood for furniture production. It also took advantage of an energy efficiency loan enabled by the GGF to buy a wood cutting machine. This helps the company improve productivity and save energy.
Dejan Savić, owner of Univer Savić, commented: “It was important for us to buy a new machine. It meets the highest energy efficiency standards and therefore helps us to save energy. As for our cooperation with ProCredit Bank, we are very pleased.”
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