Future of Energy Efficiency Finance: Getting the policy instruments and institutions right

Background

Financing the level of investment needed in energy efficiency will demand a combination of public and private actors and programmes. Economic policy instruments in the form of tax incentives, grants, subsidies, financial mechanisms, market-based instruments, and public direct investments are used by many countries as tools to increase investment in energy efficiency in different sectors.

More analysis is needed of the effective use of economic instruments to drive energy efficiency investment across all sectors. The information base is still low and there is a lack of evaluation of effectiveness and efficiency of economic instruments in many cases. The IEA is thus working to deepen the knowledge base in this regard. The IEA project on energy efficiency economic instruments aims to evaluate the use of economic instruments in energy efficiency policy across different sectors and identify future financing mechanisms to scale-up investments in energy efficiency. 

As part of energy efficiency week at the IEA, a workshop on the future of energy efficiency finance, with a particular focus on the buildings sector, will take place on March 15th. The objectives of this workshop are to assist in understanding and evaluating the use of economic instruments to improve energy efficiency, particularly in buildings. It should achieve the following aims:

• To enable a discussion between policy makers and experts on the subject of economic instruments and their role in scaling up investment in energy efficiency. This should address key issues such as what is the most suitable policy input to achieve the level of investment needed in energy efficiency in the future.

• To provide a forum for exchange between government officials from finance and energy ministries responsible for incentive programmes in their respective countries and enable the sharing of their experiences in implementing and administering these programmes and gain insight into successful features and lessons learned.

• To encourage the sharing of data on the use of economic instruments to scale up investment in energy efficiency. The various presentations and discussions should reveal the latest data and knowledge on the subject and provide material for carrying out the evaluation of programmes to date.

The target audience of this workshop is energy and finance ministry officials, experts in energy efficiency finance, policy and technology. The workshop results will be published as a workshop report and will feed into a series of papers on the use of economic instruments in energy efficiency that will be published early summer.

Agenda
Background document
Workshop Report

Proceedings:

Introductions
Moderation: Philippe Benoit, IEA
Welcome: Fatih Birol, Chief Economist, IEA

Workshop context

Scoping: Lisa Ryan, IEA
Overview of economic instruments to catalyse investments in energy efficiency policy: Anuschka Hilke , IEA

Economic instruments for low energy buildings
Moderation: Robin Ried, WEF

Expert view: Low energy buildings - the challenge and goals: Yamina Saheb, IEA

Expert view: Economic instruments for low energy buildings: Ingrid Holmes, E3G

Country round table on grants and tax incentives
Moderation: Robin Ried, WEF
What have we learned from experiences with economic instruments so far in delivering low energy buildings?

Ireland: Josephine Maguire, SEAI
New Zealand: Christine Patterson, EECA
Denmark: Mikael Skou Andersen, EEA
US Appliances : Stephane de la Rue du Can, LBNL

Financial policy instruments
Moderation: Mikael Skou Andersen, EEA

Concessional loans
- Germany: Gudrun Gumb, KfW
- France: Mélanie Barcet, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development, Transport and Housing

On-bill schemes
- US: Property taxes and utility bills: Catherine J. Bell, ACEEE

Energy performance contracting
- European experience with ESCO finance: Alexandra Langenheld, JRC

Innovative funding mechanisms for energy efficiency
Moderation: Dean Cooper, UNEP DTIE

Learning from clean energy funding mechanisms: Cecilia Tam, IEA
Investment funds: Ben Caldecott, Climate Change Capital
European Energy Efficiency Fund: Robert Nuij, DG Energy

Developing a way forward in energy efficiency finance
Lisa Ryan, IEA
Conclusions and next steps