Regional Dialogue on Financing Energy Efficiency September 18-20, Goa, India

Despite the high potential for energy savings in the South Asian region the market development for energy efficiency technologies has been slow due to a lack of appropriate funding instruments and an immature state of energy effciency investment delivery mechanisms. Existing financing programmes have not managed to attract enough private funding to fill this investment gap.

The availability of funding options is crucial for a well-functioning energy efficiency marketplace because most high energy consumers lack own internal funds to improve their energy efficiency. The challenge is to overcome the numerous obstacles to energy efficiency investment and develop innovative financing vehicles for EE projects that are tailored to the needs of the industry and the conditions of the country.

Against this background a Regional Dialogue on Financing Energy Efficiency was held in Goa between 18 and 20 September 2013 under the framework of the GIZ “Regional Energy Efficiency Programme (REEP)”. Facilitated by adelphi the dialogue event brought together high level participants such as policy makers, financial institutions representatives and private sector stakeholders from India, Bangladesh and Nepal. After illustrating the status quo with respect to energy efficiency financing in the three countries, best practice cases were presented illustrating successful financing schemes for energy efficiency in the building, industry and SME sector, focusing on effective approaches to overcome prevailing challenges. In moderated group sessions the participants had the opportunity to reflect upon the presented programmes and schemes and identify lessons learned. By sharing experiences in designing financing schemes the participants were able to identify and collect possible solutions to overcome the existing barriers in their respective countries.