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Romania blazes credit card trail

Investor
Customers of the retailer eMAG who used credit cards from Banca Transilvania to buy energy-efficient appliances listed on the GEFF Technology Sector
Location
Romania
Investment
Energy-efficient refrigerators, freezers and air-conditioners
Investment Size
Average €350 each
Financial results
149 eligible tranactions in trial month
Impact
The first GEFF in any country to use credit cards
Donor
Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Taiwan International Cooperation and Development Fund (TaiwanICDF)

Interest-free credit for A++ and A+++ refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners

The EBRD GEFF Energy Efficiency Financing Facility in Romania is the first GEFF in any country to use credit cards to help make energy efficient technologies more accessible to households.

Banca Transilvania set up a promotion to for energy-efficient refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners from the retailer eMAG.  The month-long promotion was launched on 27th June 2017, the same day as the official GEFF launch in Romania.

Household customers who bought A++ and A+++ models from eMAG using the BT Star Card credit card each received an eMAG voucher valued at 50 RON, together with 10 months interest-free credit.

This kind of marketing highlights the benefits of choosing high-performing technologies over ordinary technologies, as well as making such technologies more affordable.  A++ and A+++ are the minimum energy performance standards set by EBRD for cooling, chilling and freezing technologies under the GEFF programme in Romania.

This initiative demonstrated the flexibility of the GEFF offer and the innovative ways in which partner financial institutions can design GEFF lending to meet every need and support the uptake of energy efficient products in the retail sector.  The main advantage of the credit card product is that it is seamless, successfully promoting green technologies through a GEFF in a very simple and practical borrower experience.

The eMAG vouchers for this campaign were 50% co-financed by the Global Environment Facility through EBRD.