Project number:

LIFE24-CET-LEVERAGE/101215954

 

Duration of the project:

1. 7. 2025. – 30. 6. 2028.

 

Total value:

1,931,677 €

 

EU contribution:

1,835,094 €

 

Coordinating beneficiary:

e7 GmbH (Austria)

 

Partners:

Regional Energy-Climate Agency of Northwest Croatia (Croatia), Eurocrowd (Belgium),  SEVEN, The Energy Efficiency Center Z.U. (Czech Republic), DENEFF EDL Hub (Germany), Creara Consultores SL (Spain), WeGrant Platform (Estonia), Centre for Renewable Energy Sources and Saving Foundation (Greece), FEDERESCO (Italy), Latvian Building Energy Efficiency Facility AS (Latvia), Jožef Stefan Institute (Slovenia)

 

Project description:

The central objective of the LEVERAGE project is to increase the use of private financing as a mechanism to fund capital-intensive energy efficiency and decarbonisation investments in public bodies, with a focus on municipalities and regions. This objective addresses a central challenge for public bodies that they do not have the municipal budgets or ability to accrue the debt required to perform the necessary investments to comply with the compulsory targets of Art. 5 and 6 of the new Energy Efficiency Directive. The project has received the support of 48 public bodies, private financing partners and supporting stakeholders through LoIs. To achieve this objective the LEVERAGE project will first develop and launch a LEVERAGE Accelerator. The LEVERAGE Accelerator takes the accelerator model from the startup world and applies it to public bodies to crowd in private finance. The LEVERAGE Accelerator centers around combining a matchmaking methodology with hands-on mentorship and practical training. This combined approach brings together private finance partners and public bodies and supports them to understand each other’s needs, whilst also providing technical expertise and support for early-stage project proposal development to ensure the development of financeable proposals targeting capital-intensive energy efficiency and decarbonisation. This LEVERAGE Accelerator will be trialed during the Sandbox stage in 9 partner countries to develop a pipeline of investments with the central KPI being signed term sheets. Once the sandbox trial is complete the lessons learnt will be incorporated into a generic accelerator blueprint which will form the basis for the creation of national accelerators. These national accelerators will continue applying the refined matchmaking methodology culminating in an estimated 71 projects with signed term sheets and 56.5 million EUR being crowded in for capital-intensive and decarbonisation investments by the end of the project.