Cities often find it challenging to find their way through the complex maze of EU funding streams, programmes and mechanisms. To co-finance the development or implementation of their Sustainable Energy Action Plans (SEAPs), Covenant of Mayors signatories can however consider a wide range of solutions, whether tapping into EU budget or via other means, including alternative financing schemes such as crowd-funding, revolving funds and green bonds.
To provide signatories with a comprehensive overview of the various options available, the Covenant of Mayors Office just released its Quick Reference Guide on “Financing Opportunities for Local Sustainable Energy 2014 – 2020”. [, 661kB] Obviously, the list is not exhaustive, and the EU funding environment is set to evolve in the coming months, as the Juncker Commission fine-tunes its work programme, but it should provide some initial food for thought !
Moving forward, cities are also encouraged to visit the list of funding best practices featuring on the Covenant’s website as Benchmarks of Excellence as well as their section listing past Webinars recordings.