The EBRD is releasing fresh funds under its Ukraine Residential Energy Efficiency Financing Facility (UREEFF) to support better use of energy in the country.

The funds will benefit the so-called IQ energy programme which is designed to promote energy efficiency investments. It is supported by €15 million in grant funding from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P)*, to which the European Union is the largest contributor.

Sub-loans of €10 million and €7 million respectively will be made available to the existing IQ energy partners UkrSibbank and OTP Bank. The programme also welcomes as a new partner bank Crédit Agricole, which will receive a limit of up to €1 million. With these funds the three institutions will be able to support over 18,000 projects with individual borrowers and housing associations planning to implement a wide range of energy efficiency measures.

Eligible borrowers under the programme will be able to receive loans for energy efficiency improvements. These may include the insulation of walls, roofs and ground floors; the installation of modern energy-efficient windows, and of gas and biomass boilers; heat supply system upgrades; the installation of solar thermal systems and many others.

IQ energy, which has been operational in Ukraine since April 2016, has already channelled around UAH 320 million worth (approximately US$ 12 million equivalent) to 13,000 Ukrainian households for thermal modernisation. The programme’s website currently offers over 5,000 energy-efficient products and technologies, which can be purchased and implemented with the help of 20 different financial products available through EBRD partner banks under IQ energy.

IQ energy also benefits from technical assistance funding for programme implementation, provided by E5P and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida).

The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. To date, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost €11.6 billion through 383 projects since the start of its operations in the country in 1993.

* The Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) is a €180 million multi-donor fund managed by the EBRD and designed to promote energy efficiency investments in Ukraine and other eastern European countries. The fund was established under an initiative of the Swedish government during its presidency of the European Union (EU) in 2009. E5P complements energy efficiency loans provided by financial institutions including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, KfW, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation and the World Bank Group. Contributors to E5P are the EU and the US, as well as Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine.