EEFIG’s 2021 Plenary

The annual plenary meeting 2021 took place on 9-10 February. It was a novelty in two aspects: being held virtually and open to the public. High level speeches followed by a review of on-going work and a discussion on the EEFIG priorities. Over 500 registrations on the public day and participation of nearly 400 clearly show the importance of EEFIG within the community of financing professionals in Europe. 

Opening the plenary, Ms. Ditte Juul Jørgensen, Director-General for Energy, highlighted the role of the EEFIG in the framework of the Recovery and the Renovation Wave. She underlined the great potential of energy efficiency investments to create jobs and support local economies, as well as other related benefits in terms of health and energy security. She also stressed the key role of EEFIG to create investor confidence and leverage private finance. 

Thomas Östros, Vice-President of the European Investment Bank highlighted that energy efficiency investments are key to meeting the objectives of the Paris Agreement. He emphasised a strong shift towards energy efficiency and renewable energy with the new 2019 EIB energy lending policy. Energy efficiency is now the largest subsector of EIB’s energy lending representing more than 50% in 2020.

The second, EEFIG member-only, day attracted 157 participants and included individual sessions on the EEFIG working groups. In-depth discussions included focus on Financial Best Practices, Multiple Benefits, Asset-level Energy Performance Correlations and Energy Efficiency in Industry as well as on how best EEFIG can contribute to the European Green Deal.

By the number of attendees, by the continuing commitment of members and by the continuing support of its conveners, there are encouraging signs that EEFIG is on a good path forward. If you want to know more, please go to EEFIG’s Plenary Meeting 2021 event page