SER Social Energy Renovations: Maximizing social impact and boosting clean energy investments in the non-profit sector through de-risking, aggregation, and capacity building

Summary

In Europe, the non-profit sector employs 28 million full-time workers engaged in education, research, housing, counselling, workforce training and other social activities. The sector remains underserved by the financial industry, making it challenging to obtain funding to undertake clean energy investments. SER brings together 7 organizations from 4 EU countries to maximise social impact by boosting clean energy investments in the non-profit sector. SER intends to design, set up, and implement an innovative de-risking financing mechanism that entails financing and technical standardisation, project aggregation, social impact assessment and credit enhancement. Under SER’s financing scheme, an ESCO raises low-cost long-term capital via a forfaiting contracts to a financing instrument coupled with a de-risking mechanism. Social enterprises gain access to affordable sustainable renovations, coupled with technical assistance, while investors gain access to secure, high impact investments aligned with ESG and impact investment criteria. SER is positioned to strengthen social enterprises and generate more than 500M in clean energy investments over the course of 5 years after the project, translating into nearly 9,000 jobs, 24,633 Co2 emissions saved per year and massive social impact involving energy poverty mitigation, improvements in social inequality, health, wellbeing, productivity, financial literacy, and overall social cohesion. The initial focus is on Italy, with further replication foreseen in Bulgaria and France, and exploratory efforts in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. SER Consortium represents an ideal mix of partners including a specialized lender, an ESCO, a financing and de-risking advisory, social impact experts, an energy agency and local replicators in Bulgaria and France. SER strengthens the non-profit sector – a key driver in achieving a just and fair clean energy transition and a post-COVID-19 recovery.

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Web resources:	https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/101024254
Start date:	01-05-2021
End date:	31-01-2025
Total budget - Public funding:	1 794 422,00 Euro - 1 794 422,00 Euro

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Original description

In Europe, the non-profit sector employs 28 million full-time workers engaged in education, research, housing, counselling, workforce training and other social activities. The sector remains underserved by the financial industry, making it challenging to obtain funding to undertake clean energy investments. SER brings together 8 organizations from 4 EU countries to maximise social impact by boosting clean energy investments in the nonprofit sector. SER intends to consolidate and implement an innovative hub that will offer full technical and financial assistance to TSOs in deploying clean energy projects, including a de-risking financing instrument (guarantee instrument) to support the projects. The SER HUB will advise TSO’s to be able to design, structure and coordinate the high impact execution of projects. It will be configured as one-stop-shop (establishing an ecosystem of partners providing modular and tailor-made solutions for specific project issues) where TSOs can find integrated solutions to all problems (technical and financial) referred to their energy transition projects, also identifying and improving their sustainability impact. Social enterprises gain access to affordable sustainable renovations, coupled with technical assistance, while investors gain access to secure, high impact investments aligned with ESG and impact investment criteria.

SER is positioned to strengthen social enterprises and generate more than 500M in clean energy investments over the course of 5 years after the project, translating into nearly 9,000 jobs, 24,633 Co2 emissions saved per year and massive social impact involving energy poverty mitigation, improvements in social inequality, health, wellbeing, productivity, financial literacy, and overall social cohesion.

The initial focus is on Italy, with further replication foreseen in Bulgaria and France, and exploratory efforts in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Poland. SER Consortium represents an ideal mix of partners including a specialized lender, an ESCO, a financing and de-risking advisory, social impact experts, an energy agency and local replicators in Bulgaria and France. SER strengthens the non-profit sector – a key driver in achieving a just and fair clean energy transition and a post- COVID-19 recovery.