During the May 2020 Celsius Talk will discuss the barriers cities encounter when looking to finance sustainable energy efficient projects, such as the deployment of heating and cooling solutions. Click here to register.
The webinar, scheduled for Thursday May 28 at 11:00 CET, will be moderated by Magnus Andersson, financing expert at the innovation agency and Celsius Initiative partner IMCG. Here are some insights he shared with us in preparation for the webinar:
Hi, Magnus, you will moderate the webinar, who should attend?
The webinar is aimed towards our main stake-holders, the cities and their utilities working with energy transition for carbo-free energy system. Specifically, it will be of interest for the actors planning to commence projects that needs additional investments.
It is often claimed that there is sufficient technology. It is the lack of finance that holds back the climate friendly evolution in our cities.
Yes, that is right. Heating and cooling projects most likely do not have the main challenges in technology. In earlier interviews with our stakeholders, we identified that the main challenge is working financial instruments. That is why I think there will be a lot to learn listening into this month’s webinar.
Is there a lack of finance?
Good question – In our work with financial institutions and investors we see that it is not a lack of finance. According to the investors there are an abundance of capital. What we see is the miss-match between the financial instruments and needs of the cities. Moreover, even if the technology could be seen as straight forward, the conditions for the different projects seeking investment widely differs. This is something we are going to put in the spot-light during the webinar.
Where do you see possibilities?
The possibilities are to align the financial instruments with heating and cooling development projects. There is a knowledge transfer towards the investors that needs to be done. In general, they need a more diverse understanding of the heating and cooling investment projects presented by cities, they are different in context and risks. These are actions that are on-going. In general terms for the projects that need investments there is an opportunity to be more successful by being able to present risks and risk mitigation.
What will be the focus of the webinar?
All of this we will handle in the webinar, where we give a sneak peek on the Urban Agenda – Energy Transition Partnership work focusing on working financial instruments. We will also hear from successful cases where the cities’ actors went from innovative heating and cooling proof of concepts to commissioning supported by financial instruments.
Click here for more information about the webinar.
Register here to listen, exchange and connect with:
- Simon Wyke, principal policy and programme officer at Greater London Authority, present success stories with financial instruments for sustainable city transition within heating and cooling.
- Fredrik Block, portfolio manager at the City of Gothenburg, working with the city’s green bond program, he will share advice for cities looking into setting up their own green bonds. Gothenburg was the first city in the world to issue green bonds.
- Kristina Lygnerud – Energy Department Manager at IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute and Assistant Professor at Halmstad University will give some highlights from the UAETP’s coming position paper for financial instruments.
- Rolf Bastiaanssen, Partner at Bax & Company, will present the three main recommendations from the financial sector to the Celcius programme and its partner cities.
