On June 1, 2023, a national round table discussion on the development of a sustainable financing framework for energy efficiency financing was held in Riga, looking for ways and recommendations for its implementation in Latvia. The event was organized by the Latvian Environmental Investment Fund in cooperation with the Ministry of Economics and the Finance Latvia Association within the RoundBaltic project.

Sustainable financing is one of the most pressing topics in the last year in the context of financing energy efficiency (implementation of the taxonomy regulation, energy crisis, EU Green Deal, climate change, etc.). Organizers and stakeholders see the development of a sustainable financing framework as one of the key tools to accelerate the development of financing for energy efficiency projects, so it is particularly important to create a platform and opportunities for stakeholder discussions to develop constructive solutions. This national round table serves as a tool for dialogue and cooperation between the various stakeholders – policy makers, implementers, business and industry experts. The aim of the event was to create proposals for the industry and policy makers to improve the attraction of private funding for energy efficiency in Latvia.

Seven high-ranking opinion leaders – Andris Kužinieks (Deputy Head of the European Commission Representation in Latvia), Sanita Bajāre (Chairman of the board of the Financial industry association), Ieva Jansone-Buka (Board member of financial institution Altum), Girts Beikmanis (Chairman of the board of the Association of Latvia house managers and landloards), Ina Bērziņa-Veita (Salaspils siltums board member, Advisor to the Minister of the Ministry of Climate and energy), Gatis Silovs (Director of the energy financial instruments department og the Ministry of Economy) and Ints Dālders (Advisor to the Mister of Finance) participated in the first panel discussion, which was broadcasted live on Facebook from 10:00 to 12:00.

The parallel round table session discussions was organized in order to come up with concrete ideas and steps on how to create permanent structures (specifically, one-stop agencies) that would help the housing sector make decisions, finance and implement energy efficiency projects faster. Also, to come up with specific proposals for changes in the policy of implementing national energy efficiency measures in relation to energy efficiency financing. In the second part of the discussion, it is planned to review the goals of the state policy in energy efficiency until 2030 and to find more ways to improve the sustainability and development of Latvian SMEs by more actively implementing energy efficiency projects. Currently, companies have the best ALTUM funding sources.

RoundBaltic project in Latvia

The RoundBaltic project is aimed at developing new instruments for attracting private financing for sustainable energy efficiency in Latvia in 3 main sectors – public, housing, SMEs. The event is a follow-up of the RoundBaltic Roundtable held on May 25, 2022 and other events that brought together around 94 participants from 54 organizations. The second theme of the national round table stems from what has been discussed in previous events, including the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums.

The national round table discussion is taking place in accordance with the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings initiative, in the context of which the European Commission is organizing a Horizon 2020 project “Promoting Smart Finance for Smart Buildings in the Baltics – Poland, Latvia and Denmark – RoundBaltic”. The project is organizing a series of forums dedicated to energy investment with the aim of increasing public and private resources and cooperation to develop large-scale investment programs, one-stop shops and financing plans to improve energy efficiency.