The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) records “very good” results regarding green financing in Romania, which totals two billion euros, said Ștefania Racolța, associate director, head of the CSEE EBRD climate strategy and regional achievements department.
“In Romania we have had very good results recently. Over 80% of the volume of financing we grant went to green investments, i.e. over two billion euros invested in over 150 projects and programs”, said Racolța, at the conference “Energy Efficiency for Energy Transition” organised in București by Energynomics together with the Romanian Energy Efficiency Fund – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy.
She added that the portfolio of projects financed in Romania is balanced and targets both the energy sector and local authorities and financial institutions.
For the EBRD, financing green investments is one of the most important objectives. Thus, of the 13 billion euros that the bank invests in the region, half goes into energy efficiency, renewable energy, the circular economy, and green infrastructure projects.
“In the last ten years, we have doubled our investments in the green economy in the region,” said Racolța, who added that mobilizing financiers and the private sector for investments in green energy is another important objective of the bank.
In December 2022, the European Commission and the EBRD signed a guarantee agreement under InvestEU worth up to 450 million euros. The deal will unlock up to €2.1 billion in EBRD financing for investments in sustainable infrastructure, the green economy, and digitalization, as well as research and innovation in the EU.
DOWNLOAD THE PRESENTATION OF ȘTEFANIA RACOLȚA
Also, under the InvestEU program, the EBRD and the European Commission signed an agreement in February 2023 for advisory support worth up to EUR 60 million for infrastructure, digitalization, and innovation investment projects in Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia.
The conference in Buvharest was the last of a series of 5 scheduled by the Energynomics communication platform, the Romanian Fund for Energy Efficiency – FREE and the Directorate for Energy Efficiency within the Ministry of Energy. The project was financed by Norwegian Grants 2014-2021.