Moldova joins Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership - EBRD

Moldova, Armenia and Georgia joined the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P) in a bid to significantly boost their support for energy efficiency, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Tuesday.

E5P was established in 2009 as a multi-donor fund to promote energy efficiency and environmental investments in the Eastern Partnership countries.

During a pledging conference held on Monday, the international donor community raised an additional 60 million euro ($82 million) to enable expansion of the activities of the E5P Fund, the EBRD said in a statement.

"The European Commission, as the main donor of the Fund, is ready to provide up to €30 million for the three countries that are joining the facility, in order to co-finance energy efficiency and environmental projects in municipalities,” European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Stefan Fule said.

The E5P Fund merges contributions from the EU and donor countries (Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Sweden, Ukraine and the U.S., and new donors Armenia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Moldova, Romania, and Slovak Republic), which are then used to leverage national funds and loans from international financial institutions. These financial institutions include the EBRD, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the World Bank Group, the Nordic Environment Finance Corporation and the Nordic Investment Bank.

The initial focus of E5P was Ukraine, where, to date, one-third of the available E5P funds have been committed to projects in the municipal sector to modernise district heating systems, upgrade water and wastewater systems and save energy in public buildings.

($=0.7314 euro)

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