Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership

The E5P is a €408 million multi-donor and multi-IFI Fund operating in Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova. It was initiated during the Swedish Presidency of the European Union in 2009. It aims at supporting high impact energy efficiency and environmental investments in the Eastern Partnership countries. 

The E5P merges financial contributions from the European Union and a group of 24 nations, including countries which are benefiting from the fund. The contributions are used as grants to support municipal sector projects. The projects approved for implementation in Ukraine have shown that the E5P grants can leverage on average investment volumes that are five times the size of the committed grants. The grant allocations are flexible and recognise priorities of each recipient country with the overall aim to reduce energy use, pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. The fund also supports policy dialogue and regulatory reform.

Governance Structure

The Assembly of Contributors is the main governing body for E5P. Its members incorporate all the contributors to the E5P including the recipient countries. The Assembly approves grant allocations to projects and decides on the fund’s overall strategy and guidelines. There is usually one annual meeting of the Assembly hosted by the EBRD and chaired by the largest contributor to E5P, which is currently the European Union.

The Steering Group, consisting of the recipient countries and the Implementing Agencies, has the task to develop and make project proposals for approval by the Assembly. The work of the Steering Group is driven by the Implementing Agencies and recipient countries.

The EBRD acts as the fund manager of E5P providing administrative support to manage the fund on behalf of all the stakeholders.

How E5P works

The E5P participates in projects as a co-financier. The grants from E5P are used as an incentive for municipal clients to take loans provided by participating Implementing Agencies:

- Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB)

- European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

- European Investment Bank (EIB)

- International Finance Corporation (IFC)

- KfW

- Nordic Environment Finance Corporation (NEFCO)

- Nordic Investment Bank (NIB)

- World Bank (WB).

The following sectors are eligible for E5P support:

- District heating

- Energy efficiency in public buildings (schools, kindergartens, hospitals)

- Energy saving measures in residential housing

- Renewable energy (including biomass)

- Street lighting

- Water and wastewater treatment

- Solid waste management

- Urban transport