UNECE Announces EUR 329 million SwissRe European Clean Energy
Investment Fund
Geneva, 24 April 2007 -- One of the largest funds for financing
environmentally sound energy technology in Europe has been successfully
raised by SwissRe under a mandate of the UNECE Energy Efficiency 21 Project.
The EUR 329 million Fund is to provide capital for clean energy projects
that reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Central, Eastern and Western Europe.
It will finance energy efficiency and renewable energy investment projects
that reduce CO 2 emissions and generate carbon credits or tradable certificates.
The Energy Efficiency 21 Project promotes the formation of an energy efficiency
market in Eastern Europe so that cost-effective investments can provide a
self-financing method of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. The market
for projects with a payback period of less than five years is estimated to
be between EUR 5 and 10 billion. But the capital investment requirements needed
to tap this potential are so large that only commercial secto r finance on
a significant scale can actually deliver meaningful results.
The SwissRe European Clean Energy Fund offers attractive returns to institutional
investors in Europe, Canada and the United States for financing energy efficiency,
wind, solar, hydroelectric, geo-thermal projects while providing carbon market
services. Mr. Marek Belka, Executive Secretary of the UNECE said, “The
SwissRe European Clean Energy Fund was mandated by the Energy Efficiency 21
Project to establish a dedicated financial instrument for the participation
of public and private sector investors on a much larger scale than previously
possible”. As an accredited investment vehicle within the UNECE Project,
the Fund will have the opportunity to participate in special project financing
initiatives. The Fund will be entitled to receive grants for assistance on
financing energy efficiency investment project proposals to reduce greenhouse
gas emission submitted to the Fund managers from Eastern European countries.
The European Clean Energy Fund will be presented to the 60 th anniversary
session of the Economic Commission for Europe by Mr. Walter Blasberg, Managing
Director, Conning and Company, SwissRe Group on Friday 27 April in Salle XIX
of the Palais des Nations. The audio-visual presentation will be made under
Commission agenda item 8(a) Sustainable Energy Policies: the Key to Energy
Security. Mr. Blasberg and senior representatives of the UNECE secretariat
will be available for further information and to answer questions about the
Fund on Friday 27 April at 12:30 in Salle X of the Palais des Nations.
For
further information on the Energy Efficiency 21 Project please contact:
Gianluca Sambucini
Energy Efficiency 21 Project
Sustainable Energy Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe
Palais des Nations, Bureau 462
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Telephone: +41 (0)22 917 1175
Telefax: +41 (0)22 917 0178
E-mail: [email protected]
Website: http://www.unece.org/ie/ and http://www.ee-21.net
Ref: ECE/SED/07/P01