World Bank provides Moldova with 54.5 million dollars to improve energy efficiency

Chisinau, 28 June /MOLDPRES/- The World Bank will provide 54.5 million U.S. dollars for the renovation of public buildings and district heating, focusing on education facilities in Moldova. The investments will be made under Scaling Up Energy Efficiency in Europe and Central Asia Program (E3 Program), launched by the World Bank.

The new regional initiative aimed at significantly accelerating energy efficiency to ensure secure, affordable, and clean energy supply across Europe and Central Asia. The E3 Program will provide $1.46 billion and raise an additional $2.4 billion from the public, private and development sectors—including $1.5 billion in private capital.

Initial funds have been earmarked for energy efficiency programs in four countries, with more expected to join over the 10-year period. Investments will target public facilities, residential buildings and appliances, industrial modernization, and district heating upgrades.

The 10-year Program is projected to save over 63 terawatt hours (TWh) of energy over the lifetime of its investments—equivalent to the annual electricity production of Switzerland—and reduce CO2 emissions by 18.7 million metric tons.

"Investing in energy efficiency is part of the World Bank Group’s vision to accelerate a shift towards clean and efficient energy, in order to avert the worst impacts of climate change. Scaling up energy efficiency can generate budget savings for other development priorities and significantly reduce the need for investment in new energy supply,” said Antonella Bassani, World Bank’s Vice President for Europe and Central Asia. “Efficient systems make business operations cleaner and more competitive, lower household energy bills, decrease air pollution, reduce carbon emissions, and create jobs.”

The E3 program will develop replicable country projects based on national plans and support access to sustainable financing. Initial projects under the Program include $300 million of World Bank funding for the renovation of central government buildings in Türkiye and $54.5 million to renovate public buildings and district heating, focusing on education facilities, in Moldova. The project is supported by a $5 million grant from the Moldova – Growth, Resilience and Opportunities for Well-being (M-GROW) program. Additional phases and projects in Türkiye, Moldova, Montenegro, Uzbekistan, and other countries are planned. 

Over time, the E3 Program will support countries in transitioning from smaller publicly financed energy efficiency programs to national-scale programs with greater commercial financing. The use of public financing will focus on demonstrating the investments needed to bring in commercial financiers, testing new business models, de-risking investments, and providing targeted subsidies alongside commercial financing.

The E3 program will work alongside the recently launched Europe and Central Asia Renewable Energy Scale-up (ECARES) Program to enhance energy security, improve affordability, and support the clean energy transition.