EBRD, GCF and Luxembourg to boost climate finance in Serbian leasing sector.

EUR20 million to UniCredit Leasing to support climate finance

Small and medium-sized enterprises to receive finance (leasing) for climate mitigation and resilience projects

The EBRD, Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the government of Luxembourg are supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Serbia by making EUR20 million of finance available for climate mitigation and resilience projects through UniCredit Leasing Serbia.

UniCredit Leasing is the first leasing company to join Green Economy Financing Facility (GEFF) Leasing in Serbia and will offer leases to its SME clients for investments in high-performing technologies that improve the use of energy, water and land resources in Serbia.

These leases will cover investments in technologies such as energy-efficient agricultural, commercial, drip irrigation and rainwater harvesting equipment. Beneficiaries can identify climate-friendly technologies through the Technology Selector database and are supported by the GEFF Serbia Leasing technical assistance team.

GCF and the government of Luxembourg support the GEFF Serbia Leasing programme that blends EUR5 million of GCF concessional finance with EUR15 million of EBRD finance.

The GEFF programme operates through a network of more than 140 local financial institutions across 26 countries supported by almost EUR4.2 billion of EBRD finance for 130,000 clients. These projects have led to annual CO2 emission reductions of over almost 7 million tonnes.

To date, GCF has been supporting EBRD programmes worth US$ 830 million, catalysing more than US$ 3.6 billion in total project value. GCF is the largest climate fund in the world to support developing countries' efforts to respond to the challenge of climate change.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Serbia. The Bank has invested more than EUR5 billion across 250 projects in the country. The EBRD is supporting private sector development and the transition towards a green economy, as well as investing in infrastructure to boost connectivity in the Western Balkans region.

(C) 2019 Electronic News Publishing, source ENP Newswire