How can you save money and energy with an energy performance contract? Does a revolving loan have anything in common with a revolving door? To help cities get to grips with innovative financing for energy efficiency, we worked under the EU-funded Prospect+ project. This project paired mentor and mentee cities to spread the word about financial tools and structures that get the best out of limited budgets, reduce the cost of green measures, and enable local governments to exploit and guide the market.
The project worked through five topics:
- Public buildings
- Private buildings
- Public lighting
- Transport
- Cross sectoral
Tools for your city
Results from the public consultations ‘Why local authorities struggle with financing’
A new report published under the PROSPECT+ project, ‘Energy Transition Without Subsidies: Why Local Authorities Struggle with Innovative Financing’, reveals the deep challenges municipalities face and provides concrete, realistic recommendations to national and EU-level decision-makers.
The findings are drawn from structured survey data, open-ended feedback, and policy dialogues with city officials and energy agencies. The report highlights that while many local governments express openness to innovative financing, such as energy performance contracting, citizen finance, and blended finance, actual implementation is still rare.
These findings were also presented during the project’s final event. Revisit the event by listening to the recording or find out more by reading the full write-up.
Policy Dialogue Webinar
The Prospect+ Policy Dialogue Webinar brought together cities, investors, and the EU Commission to propose recommendations and share best practices around innovative financing. You can still watch the webinar or read the insights here.
Methods of innovative financing
The methods of innovative financing explored by Prospect+ include things like green bonds, energy performance contracts, crowdfunding and revolving funds. To learn more about these methods, see an overview of each one, including a brief explanation, advantages and an example here. You can check out the linked section of this webinar, and this one, to see a live discussion of some of the methods.
Tool for developing climate action plan objectives
The Synergise+ tool is a practical and innovative Excel-based system developed to assist decision-makers in prioritising actions from sustainable energy and climate action plans. Its primary objective is to help local governments and communities align their strategies with climate resilience goals, fostering informed, data-driven decisions.
By enabling cities to conduct qualitative analysis of their climate mitigation and adaptation actions, the tool simplifies the process of reviewing and evaluating initiatives using information that municipalities already possess. It offers clear visual feedback on how various initiatives align with the city’s values, financial constraints, and sustainability priorities.
Discover more and download this Excel tool here.
The prospect for legacy
Prospect+ follows the Prospect project, which saw 149 local and regional authorities and 46 energy agencies and networks learn from their peers to implement sustainable practices and investment plans.
This new project promotes synergies with local plans and facilitates city decision-making on energy efficiency measures. Participants identify new financing schemes to overcome their challenges in financing their energy and climate plans.
The participants also have an opportunity to join a ‘Community of Practice’ for further exchange of best practices on the barriers local authorities face in implementing timely and optimal investments in sustainable energy and low-emission transport.
We expect to welcome over 200 EU cities in at least 20 countries to directly enjoy the benefits of this project, and we’re recruiting mentors and mentees and hosting a bouquet of concise information-focused events and direct training – so sign up at h2020prospect.eu to see what we can achieve together.
