Mad Global Props: The International Energy Agency Hearts ICP

By: Panama Bartholomy, Director of ICP Europe

The Investor Confidence Project (ICP), was recognized by the International Energy Agency (IEA), a global organization for 29 member countries, in its annual energy efficiency report, released today.

The IEA’s Energy Efficiency Market Report 2014 highlighted ICP as a program that will accelerate the development of a global energy efficiency finance market, saying in its energy efficiency finance chapter that the EDF initiative will “facilitate a global market for financings by institutional investors that look to rely on standardized products.”

For investors, the IEA puts the financial market for energy efficiency in the range of $120bn, with the launch of new products, such as green bonds, corporate green bonds, energy performance contracts, and expanded sources of finance likely to expand that figure. Lending from multilateral development banks and bilateral banks alone amounted to more than $22bn in 2012.

[Investor Confidence Project will] facilitate a global market for financings by institutional investors that look to rely on standardized products rather than project-specific structuring and due diligence.”

IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven at the launch of the report described energy efficiency as “moving from a niche interest to an established market segment”, drawing increasing interest from investors.

“To fully expand this market, initiatives to continue to reduce barriers will need to strengthen.”

That’s where the ICP comes in.

The Investor Confidence Project is enabling a market for Investor Ready Energy Efficiency™ projects by reducing transaction costs and engineering overhead while increasing the reliability and consistency of savings. ICP takes the variability out of the process by leveraging best practices for each phase of an energy retrofit and credentialing projects through third-party review. The result is a commercial building sector with lower operating costs, higher market value, and a significantly lower carbon footprint.

ICP has been gaining traction in the United States, where it has partnered with hundreds of private sector allies, including energy service providers, building owners, and finance companies, and is currently in use by Connecticut’s Green Bank and Texas’ Commercial property-assessed clean energy (PACE) programs. Next month, EDF will launch ICP in Europe, capitalizing on the size and maturity of the European energy efficiency sector.

This post originally appeared on our Investor Confidence Project blog.