Article originally published on the Prospect+ website

Cities and regions in Europe are facing challenges in ensuring sustainable energy investments for their territories due to the energy crisis. To keep up with the European Commission’s legislation REPowerEU and Fit-for-55, there is a need to seek ways of financing projects with reduced use of subsidies and traditional bank loans. PROSPECT+ has organised a webinar in which you can watch DG Energy’s latest update on the current policy context that emphasises the need for public authorities to identify financing instruments that allow the quickest start of remaining work in the sustainable energy field.

PROSPECT+ helps local and regional authorities mitigate growing energy costs and accelerate achieving climate targets through its unique capacity-building programme. The programme covers 5 thematic areas which are public buildings, private buildings, public lighting, transport and cross-sectoral. The PROSPECT+ team has summarised available innovative financing options in the learning handbooks. 

Built upon peer-to-peer learning and exchanges, each of the learning cycles is divided into 4 steps:

Application for mentees is now open

After the successful 1st learning cycle where the participants shared their experiences from their local situation with other-than-subsidies financing, the programme now opens the application for the mentees for the second learning cycle.

Mentees from local and regional authorities from 44 eligible countries can apply to the PROSPECT+ capacity-building programme until the 30th of September 2022. 

The selected mentees have the opportunity to learn from experienced mentors about how public authorities across Europe are tackling financing for their Sustainable Energy and Climate Action Plans (SECAPs). For the 2nd learning cycle, the mentors are: 

• Association of local energy managers of Czech Republic (SEMMO)
• Energy agency of Upper Austria (OÖ Energiesparverband – ESV)
• Energy and Climate Agency of Podravje (ENERGAP)
• Energy agency of Porto (AdE Porto)
• Regional energy agency of Oeste (OesteSustentável)
• Municipality of Albertville
• Municipality of Križevci
• Valladolid City Council (Innolid)

You can find the mentor’s pitch in this webinar.

Thematic areas

The second learning cycle starting in November 2022 will focus on:

• Public buildings: Energy Performance Contracting (working with ESCOs) 
• Public and private buildings: Bundling of energy efficiency projects to attract investors
• Public lighting: Energy Performance Contracting (working with ESCOs)
• Cross-sectoral: Internal contracting
• Cross-sectoral: Revolving funds 
• Cross-sectoral: Citizen financing (crowdfunding, energy communities)
• Transport: Local incentives for e-mobility
• and more!

Local learning groups

For this second learning cycle, local or regional authorities from the Czech Republic and Bosnia & Herzegovina will have the possibility to join a local learning group in their country where activities will take place in their own language! Cities in the Czech Republic can apply to join a group with SEMMO on energy communities, whereas cities in Bosnia & Herzegovina will be able to learn from Energap on Energy Performance Contracting. Specific application forms for these 2 local groups will soon open on the Get involved page. Stay tuned!

Apply now and become the next mentee

Participation in the programme is free of charge. You can apply if you are:

• Staff member of regional or local authorities or their energy/climate agencies in the eligible countries.
• Staff member of other local or regional organisations (e.g., development agencies, municipal companies, energy cooperatives, …) in the eligible countries.
• External consultant working for a local or regional public authority in the eligible countries.

Let’s stay in touch

Connect with your peers and strengthen your voice thanks to Community of Practice, a community of like-minded local and regional authorities willing to support each other through the exchange of best practices and consultations. 

Get the latest information about #H2020PROSPECT+ on LinkedIn.