(In case you're wondering, EE means Energy Efficiency!)
> A £10 million bond issue by independent energy company Ecotricity has been oversubscribed by 62 per cent. The firm will leverage the money raised and use it to finance more wind farms, green gas and alternative energy projects. The bond pays 6 per cent, but Ecotricity customers receive an extra half a per cent. They key to success: having a happy retail customer base to market to, and of course doing it well.
> The first privately funded loan has been signed under the City of Melbourne’s new 1200 Building Program, which provides commercial building energy efficiency retrofit loans that are repaid through municipal tax bills. Similar to PACE in the US and Green Deal in the UK, the scheme links the loan to the building rather than the building occupant, avoiding "principal agent" problems. Loan funds have been provided by NAB Bank.
> Melbourne is a sign of welcome momentum building for commercial energy efficiency retrofits. According to the US Green Building Council (a member of our Climate Bond Standards energy efficiency technical committee), LEED energy efficiency standards are now used more by existing building retrofits than new builds. Of course this is partly because of the downturn stalling new build. However, according to a report from McGraw Hill Construction, green retrofits will grow to a third of the overall commercial retrofit market in the next three years. Flagship buildings this year range from the Empire State Building to Taipei 101, now the tallest and largest green building in the world. (The Empire State project will save $4.4m in energy costs and provide a return on investment in 3 years. Climate Bond Standards Board Member Nature Resources Defense Council was a key part of that project)
> Upcoming events:
- Climate Bonds Singapore rep Louis Perroy is speaking at the Climate Change Summit for Asia’s Insurance Industry 30-31 Jan 2012 in Singapore.
- Climate Bonds Chair Sean Kidney will be speaking in Istanbul at the “Regional and Global Climate Change: Physical Observations and Policy Choices” Conference, 16 March 2012.
