E3G

European Perspectives on the Challenges of Financing Low Carbon Investment

By Ingrid Holmes and Susan Davies

During 2010/2011 E3G undertook research into the low carbon financing challenges facing European Member States that we felt represented a cross-section of the EU. The Member States selected were Estonia, France, Germany, Poland and Spain. The purpose of this research was twofold. First, to better understand the role European public banks and financing institutions play in their economies. Second, to gain a better understanding of the varying nature of the market failures and financing opportunities and challenges around low carbon infrastructure investment in each country.

The research built on very detailed work done in the UK, which resulted in the proposal of a Green Investment Bank. The results showed some of the opportunities and challenges were specific to each country, while others were common across countries. These findings have been written up as a series of five reports along with a short overarching introductory paper that draws out key themes from the work. But they have also be used to inform wider E3G thinking on the wider European debate on infrastructure financing, feeding into the forthcoming paper: “Financing the Decarbonisation of European Infrastructure: 30% and beyond”.