BASE contributed to the “Financing the Low Carbon Economy” and participated in the #LowCarbonEconomy video series led by Swiss Sustainable Finance (SSF).

The publication “Financing the Low Carbon Economy” compiles a wide array of financial tools and instruments that help channel funding into the solutions necessary for the transition to a low-carbon economy. It demonstrates that the finance industry already has a long track-record in developing climate finance solutions. Instruments from thematic equity funds, green bons, sustainable real estate investment and energy efficiency mortgages among others are described and eight case studies complement specific chapters and provide additional insights into how low-carbon finance strategies are implemented by various players.

Meanwhile in the short two-minutes video Livia Miethke Morais, Sustainable Energy Finance Specialist at BASE, explains how the Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) model can contribute to increasing investments into energy efficiency and renewable energy.

The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) model was designed to increase the investment in energy efficiency, especially by Small and Medium Sized enterprises (SMEs), by reducing the perceived risk on this investment. Trust in energy efficiency investment is generated through the combination of its four main elements:

• Standardised contract: in which the technology provider guarantees the future energy savings for the final client (the SME).
• Insurance element: covering the promised energy savings guaranteed by the provider in the contract with the SME being the beneficiary.
• Technical validation: an independent technical validation entity verifies that the energy efficiency has the potential for achieving the guaranteed savings and plays the arbitration role in case of disagreements.
• Green financing: an energy efficiency project with guaranteed energy savings can access green financing with favorable financing conditions.

The Energy Savings Insurance model has been developed by BASE and successfully implemented in Latin America in collaboration with the Inter-American development Bank. Currently it is being implemented in Italy, Portugal and Spain with the funding of the European Commission Horizon 2020 Programme. Miethke Morais said “We hope that the Energy Savings insurance model can continue to expand and contribute to the low-carbon economy”.