CITYnvest

How do towns and cities finance energy efficiency? CITYnvest organised a seminar in Vilnius, Lithuania, with mayors and others who plan, design and shape cities, to discuss innovative financing models for renovations in municipal buildings in order to maximise energy efficiency.

Innovative financing is not easy, especially at the local level. In fact, for Lieven Vanstraelen from CITYnvest, “It is difficult for an individual municipality to be a pioneer. If you don’t have a level of size, you need to have the level of aggregation.”

Thanks to the seminar, though, everyone was able to exchange and learn good practices from all over Europe. For example, Ard den Outer from Rotterdam Green Buildings Project spoke about ways to combine renovations with maintenance contracts to allow more efficient budget planning.

So what do Lithuanian towns and cities need? A pilot project. The panellists agree: with political commitment, clear goals, and a target audience, a pilot project with regular meetings of all stakeholders can be a great starting point for the development of innovative financing models in Lithuania.

The full article on the seminar is available on the CITYnvest website.