Impact Stories

Saving Energy by the Book

At the GGF, promoting energy efficiency goes beyond making green finance available to its partner institutions. An essential part of the fund’s undertaking is building awareness about the impact of the efficient use of energy from the grassroots level up, creating a demand for green credit – a win-win for the GGF and its partners.

 

Raising awareness and market enabling activities are a way to promote successful investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy projects amongst small and medium businesses (SMEs). Starting in 2015, the GGF Technical Assistance Facility has offered a number of workshops on these topics for the clients of its partner institutions.

The GGF Technical Assistance Facility also produced a detailed booklet for small and medium enterprise borrowers titled “Save Energy, Save Costs, Develop Your Business.” The publication contains many popular energy-saving measures – categorized by business sectors – that spell out energy savings calculations as well as the commercial benefits of such investments. The booklet acts as a useful reference document for owners and managers of SMEs who are clients of GGF partners.

In response to the high demand, the booklet has been translated into seven languages and is still being distributed in cooperation with the partner institutions throughout the fund’s regions of operation. The booklet is also available in several languages on this website.

The booklet’s popularity as a useful teaching tool was evident at public events organized by the GGF in various countries, and partner institutions referenced the work at meetings with a number of clients potentially interested in taking loans related to energy efficiency. One example of a partner employing the booklet is Halkbank AD Skopje in Macedonia, which widely uses the information to help its business clients identify energy savings opportunities.