Greater energy efficiency is key for shifting country development paths toward lower-carbon economic growth. Especially in developing countries and transition economies, vast potential for energy savings opportunities remain unrealized even though current fi nancial returns are strong. Financing Energy Effi ciency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond examines the nature of this dilemma and how it may be overcome in practical and operational terms.

Tapping more aggressively into the wealth of available, fi nancially attractive energy-saving renovation projects requires mechanisms to develop and deliver large numbers of relatively small projects scattered among hundreds of thousands of industries and building complexes. The investment opportunities result in operating-cost savings, as opposed to new production, and are technically and logistically diverse.

As such, they often do not compete well with other opportunities for using up-front capital, such as capacity expansion or penetrating new markets. If left unaddressed, problems of prevailing high transaction costs, perceptions of uncertain risks, and unmet needs for financial intermediation or technical expertise mean that much of the potential for energy savings will remain unimplemented. Institutional innovation is required to address these problems and put in place effi cient ways of identifying, packaging, and delivering bundles of energy saving projects.

This book reviews the reasons for the success or failure of a range of recent energy effi ciency programs in developing countries and economies in transition. It also draws heavily on an intensive program to exchange ideas and operational lessons learned in energy efficiency projects in Brazil, China, and India, undertaken during 2002–06 with funding from the United Nations Foundation.

The book goes beyond those experiences to review lessons learned in various energy efficiency programs in recent years, especially by the World Bank. Part II of the book presents 13 case studies of specific energy effi ciency investment delivery mechanisms implemented in eight different countries.

One of the recurring themes of the book is that effective delivery of energy efficiency investments is essentially an institutional development challenge. As such, attempted solutions must fit within prevailing local economic institutional contexts, which vary dramatically. Where initiatives have been most successful, they have been built following careful, in-country diagnostic work, with parallel attention to both fi nancial intermediation and technical support requirements and with fl exibility to make many adjustments along the way.

Improving energy effi ciency has become an increasingly urgent imperative across the world. It is our hope that this book can contribute to the further generation of new ideas and approaches on how to scale up energy effi ciency investment.

Jamal Saghir
Director, Energy, Transport, and Water
Chair, Energy Sector Board
Sustainable Development Network
The World Bank

Visit Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond Download Page

Robert P. Taylor
Chandrasekar Govindarajalu
Jeremy Levin
Anke S. Meyer
William A. Ward

©2008 The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank

Buy A Hardcopy on World Bank Website

English  Paperback 304 pages 6 x 9
Published February 2008
ISBN: 0-8213-7304-8     ISBN-13: 978-0-8213-7304-0     SKU: 17304

Download Financing Energy Efficiency: Lessons from Brazil, China, India, and Beyond

PDF format, 1.6MB, 306Pages.

Financing Energy Efficiency identifies creative steps that can be taken by the public and private sector to realize the full and promising potential of energy efficiency in developing countries. This must be a top priority for international cooperation and World Bank leadership.
The Honorable Timothy E. Wirth
President, United Nations Foundation and Better World Fund

Raising energy effi ciency is one of the most cost-effective ways to reduce greenhouse gases, and this book offers some timely lessons learned from projects funded through the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The study authors note that well-targeted support from international fi nancial institutions such as ours can play an important role in spurring energy effi ciency by combining investment financing and project development support. Clearly, multilateral funding can play a catalytic role through financing mechanisms and pilot projects. And to help build further momentum, this book offers timely suggestions on how individual governments can offer additional support toward building energy efficiency lending for the benefi t of all.
Monique Barbut
CEO and Chairperson, Global Environment Facility

This book is rich in substance. The successful experiences and failed lessons described in detailed cases provide useful and instructive thoughts for solving the existing obstacles and barriers faced by developing countries in energy effi ciency project financing.
Han Wenke
Director, Energy Research Institute, National Development and Reform Commission of China

There is surprisingly limited consensus on how energy effi ciency policies should be designed and how the financing should be delivered. Financing Energy Effi ciency provides a cogent and integrated framework for designing a financial delivery system. This is a major contribution to the efforts to scale up energy effi ciency and is required reading for all policy makers and fi nancial institutions in this sector.
Ajay Mathur
Director General, Bureau of Energy Effi ciency, Ministry of Power, India

This book provides an analytical framework to assess energy efficient investments, with a focus on the key issue of institutional development. It will be useful to policy makers, financial intermediaries, fi rm managers, and other “energy effi ciency project developers” as they look to realize incremental economic efficiencies and fi nancial returns.
Richard Garcia
Senior Managing Director and Head of Project Finance (Americas), Natixis

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