The Environment for Europe process

EfE themes: Environmental finance

Environmental finance has been an EfE focus area of both the EAP Task Force and the Project Preparation Committee (PPC) since 1993. However, the 2008 EAP Task Force work program does not feature anymore any separate environmental financing work program, and, the PPC was internalized into EBRD operations based on the decision of ministers at the 2007 Belgrade Conference. However, as a large body of work and reports on environmental finance has been completed in the period 1993-2007, we continue to provide links to this work, see below.

Past EAP Task Force work on environmental finance

The EAP Task Force worked in the area "environmental finance" since the 1993 Lucerne Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference and up to 2007. Recent work focused on EECCA countries and contributed to implementing the Environmental Strategy of EECCA Countries, which was adopted at the 2003 Kiev Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference.The 2003-2007 work program on environmental finance included the following activties:

• Elaboration and improvement of environmental expenditure data: harmonizing environmental expenditure information systems in EECCA countries with OECD and Eurostat standards.
• Elaboration of Environmental Financing Strategies (EFS): EFS is a standardised methodological framework supported by a computer model to prepare realistic multi-year implementation programmes for those environmental sectors that require investment-heavy public infrastructure. The EAP Task Force has facilitated the elaboration of EFS for water and wastewater sectors in several EECCA countries. In addition, experience with preparing EFS for the municipal solid waste sector has been collected and the EFS computer model has been expanded to cover water supply and sanitation in rural areas, as well as the district heating sector. Click here for more information on EFS.
• Improving transparency, accountability and efficiency of public environmental expenditure schemes (for example, national Environmental Funds).
• Facilitating access of environmental projects to local capital and financial markets.
• Strengthening local governments capacity to invest in environmentally-related infrastructure.
• Facilitating policy dialogue on opportunities and risks of Debt-for-Environment Swaps.

Since 1995, the EAP Task Force has coordinated and implemented much of its environmental finance work program through an "environmental finance specialist network". Click here to view more information about this network, including network meeting records.

Click here to view the EAP Task Force's dedicated website on the environmental finance program. This website contains additional information on all work areas mentioned above.

Major and recent reports produced under the environmental finance work program include (note that reports which were submitted to the 2007 Belgrade Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference are listed in the green text box further below):

• Financing Water and Environment Infrastructure: The Case of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (published in 2006)
• Environmental Financing Strategy Studies in Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine (most studies are for urban water and wastewater, some studies for municipal solid waste)
• Monitoring Environmental Expenditure in EECCA - Implementing the OECD/Eurostat Standards in the Kyrgyz Republic and Ukraine (2006)
• Local Capital Markets for Environmental Infrastructure (2006)
• Good Practices of Public Environmental Expenditure Management (2003)
• Performance Review of the State Environmental Protection Fund of Ukraine (2006)
• Multi-Year Investment Plan for Municipal Environmental Infrastructure in Ekaterinburg, Russia (2003)
• Multi-Year Investment Plan for the City of Lutsk, Ukraine
• Toolkit for Multi-Year Investment Planning for Municipal Environmental Infrastructure
• Demonstration Project: Pre-Feasibility Analysis and Institutional support for Debt-for-Environment Swap in the Kyrgyz Republic (2005)
• Institutional Support to Georgian Debt-for-Environment Swap (2006)

Click here to view our web page on water supply and sanitation (WSS): this web page contains links to additional EAP Task Force reports related to environmental finance and WSS.

Past PPC work

At the 2007 Belgrade Environment for Europe Conference, Ministers endorsed the decision to internalise the Project Preparation Committe (PPC) within the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). From 2008 the internalised PPC will form the core of a dedicated sustainability initiatives team inside the EBRD's Environment and Sustainability Department (for more details click here). Enquiries concerning the work of the PPC up to 2007 and the activities of its successor organisation inside the EBRD should be directed to Craig Davies. The PPC website will close on 30 June 2008. From that date, the environment pages on the EBRD website will provide for further information.

Documents related to environmental finance discussed at the 2007 Belgrade Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference

The following documents related to "environmental finance" have been submitted to the 2007 Belgrade Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference:

• Mobilizing Finance for Environmental Priorities: Recommendations for the Future (submitted by: Project Preparation Committee, Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe and EAP Task Force). View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.
• Trends in Environmental Finance in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (submitted by: EAP Task Force).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Environmental Financing Trends in South-Eastern Europe: 2001-2005 (submitted by: Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe).  View document: ENG.
• Project Preparation Committee Report to the Sixth Ministerial Conference "Environment for Europe" (submitted by: Project Preparation Committee).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Financing Water Supply and Sanitation in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia and Progress in Achieving Water-Related Millennium Development Goals (submitted by: EAP Task Force).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• EU Water Initiative – Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (submitted by: the European Commission and the EUWI-EECCA Component Working Group).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Municipal Environmental Investments in South-Eastern Europe: 2001–2005 (submitted by: Serbia and the Regional Environmental Centre for Central and Eastern Europe). View document: ENG.
• Progress Report on Partnerships in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (submitted by: EAP Task Force).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Policies for a Better Environment - Progress in Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (submitted by: EAP Task Force). View document: full text ENG/RUS, summary.
• Integrating Environment in Key Economic Sectors in Europe and Central Asia (submitted by: the World Bank). View document: ENG.
• Financing Energy Efficiency for Climate Change Mitigation in Selected Transition Economies (submitted by: UNECE).  View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.
• Policy Developments and Challenges in Delivering Energy Efficiency (submitted by: Energy Charter Secretariat).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Critical Issues in Implementation of Environmental Policies Highlighted by the UNECE Environmental Performance Reviews Programme (submitted by: UNECE). View document: ENG/add./Corr., FRE/add., RUS/add.
• Recommendations on Payments for Ecosystem Services in Integrated Water Resources Management (submitted by: the Meeting of the Parties to the Convention on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes). View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.
• Public-Sector Participation in the Energy Efficiency Equity Fund (submitted by: UNECE Energy Efficiency 21 Project). View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.
• Report on the Status of Implementation of the Kiev Resolution on Biodiversity: Achievements, Challenges and Future Action to Reach the 2010 Pan-European Biodiversity Target (submitted by: the "Countdown 2010 Secretariat" in collaboration with UNEP, the Council of Europe, the EEA, WWF and the European ECO-Forum).  View document: ENG, RUS.
• Environmental Policy in South-Eastern Europe (submitted by: UNDP).  View document: ENG.
• Sustainable Consumption and Production in South-Eastern Europe and Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (submitted by: UNEP and European Environment Agency). Note: This report is officially under "embargo" until 11 October, 2007. View DRAFT, ANNEX.
• Central Asian Initiative on Sustainable Development: Progress and Prospects. View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.
• Environmental Policy and International Competitiveness in a Globalizing World: Challenges for Low-Income Countries in the UNECE Region (submitted by: UNECE). View document: ENG, FRE, RUS.

Last update of this page: 17 April, 2008.