The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is launching a new Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) in Montenegro that will provide loans to households for energy efficiency improvements.

The programme will deliver over €27 million in incentives to end borrowers provided by the European Union through the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF). Technical assistance to support the preparation, implementation and monitoring of the programme is supported by grants from  the government of Austria with over €5 million and additional nearly €2 million by bilateral donors to the WBIF.

The financing is part of a larger €135 million Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) programme for the Western Balkans. GEFF is implemented under the umbrella of the Regional Energy Efficiency Programme for the Western Balkans (REEP Plus), funded by the EU and delivered in partnership with the Energy Community Secretariat.

The investments will help to make households more energy efficient, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve living standards. Households can select the technologies they wish to invest in, including thermal insulation, double-glazed windows, high-efficiency boilers, heat pumps, solar collectors/solar water heaters and photovoltaic systems.

To date, around 7,000 households in the Western Balkans have improved their energy efficiency thanks to GEFF with investments in projects that contributed to reducing over 10,000 tons of CO2 emissions per year, equivalent to removing 6000 cars from the street.