The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has once again demonstrated its role and confirmed its ambition to promote investments to accelerate the green economy transition. On 18 March, in a webinar entitled “Access Green Finance and Technologies”, more than 200 vendors and interested parties from EBRD’s operational countries were informed about its plans to become a majority green bank by 2025.
Ksenia Brockmann, EBRD’s Associate Director, stated that EBRD aims to help countries where it invests in “build green, low carbon and resilient economies”. Through its Green Economy Transition (GET) approach for 2021-25, the EBRD will increase green financing to more than 50% of its annual business. Up to now, EBRD has provided over EUR 5 billion to support its GET approach through 155 partner financial institutions across 27 countries. Two of the major programmes supporting this transition are the GEFF and the Green Trade Facilitation Programme (Green TFP), under which beneficiaries have access to loans for supplying and adopting green technologies and financing various green projects (renewable energy, energy- and resource-efficiency), as well as guarantees in trade finance for global green technology transactions, bonds, risk sharing instruments and much more.
As well as financing, the EBRD also provides tools that further enhance its support. One such tool is the Green Technology Selector (GTS) – an online platform that gives details of high-performance technologies from more than 1,650 manufacturers worldwide. “GTS helps investors, financiers and technology providers to meet and develop business relationships” said Hyojoo Kim, GTS-Coordinator at the EBRD. Technology buyers can browse through GTS to compare products and suppliers, select appropriate technologies and then take their certificate to a financial institution to arrange financing. Today, the GTS includes more than 33,000 best-in-class green technologies.
The GTS is available in more than 30 countries, including Georgia, where around 800 green technologies are already available through local suppliers. Technologies range from insulation to solar PV systems, which have become a hot topic in the country after the increase in electricity prices. With the number of solar technology vendors increasing, the GEFF in Georgia has launched a dedicated webinar series, where its experts explain the benefits of using the GTS for solar technology vendors and present a step-by-step guide to facilitate the adoption of the new platform. The next webinar in the series will take place on 24 March 2021.
In addition to the EBRD’s presentations, several Taiwanese technology suppliers and producers, such as Eterbright Solar Coporation, Huarong Group, TECO Electric & Machinery Co., Xing Tai Guang Co. and H Plus R Environmental Engineering Co., presented their latest technologies and solutions in renewable energy, HVAC, LED lightening systems and resource efficiency (water recycling and reuse systems). Following the event, participating suppliers, potential clients and other interested parties had the opportunity to talk with the Taiwanese technology suppliers personally and discuss potential collaboration in separate online meetings.
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