"CMIA helped to explain the potential for project-based mechanisms across a variety of constituencies and is a key voice driving the conversation on results-based finance and sector approaches for scaling-up emission reduction investments. We urgently need input from organisations like CMIA to operationalise Art 6 of the Paris Agreement."

Mr. Franz-Josef Schafhausen, former Director General Climate Change, European and International Affairs, Federal German Ministry of the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety

New EBRD financing to Yapı Kredi

27th February 2018 by CMIA

Encouraging a new source of funding for Turkish banks, the EBRD has invested the equivalent of US$ 60 million in Turkish lira in a covered bond issued by Yapı Kredi Bank, Turkey’s fourth-largest private bank.

The Baa1-rated bond is backed by a portfolio of residential mortgages. Bonds of this kind are rare in the country’s banking sector and the EBRD’s investment in the issuance aims to support Turkey’s nascent covered bond market.

Proceeds from the EBRD’s investment will promote energy-saving improvements in the residential sector. Funds will be on-lent to individual homeowners and groups of homeowners, housing associations, condominium owners and cooperatives investing in greater resource efficiency of homes. Also eligible are private service providers in the residential sector, such as housing management firms, small and medium-sized enterprises, and vendors and installers of highly energy-efficient home improvement equipment and materials, for investment in energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy projects in the residential buildings sector.

The investment is part of the EBRD’s dedicated Turkey Residential Energy Efficiency Financing Facility (TuREEFF).

Arvid Tuerkner, EBRD Managing Director for Turkey, said: “Our goal is to help develop a more resource-efficient and environmentally friendly residential sector in Turkey. Energy-saving home improvements will save Turkish households money and help tackle climate change. We are pleased to make financing available for such projects and to do so in innovative ways, such as this latest investment in a mortgage covered bond.”

The EBRD financing is being complemented by US$ 15 million from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF), one of the Climate Investment Funds, which helps countries increase the use of low-carbon technologies with significant potential for long-term savings in greenhouse gas emissions. Concessional funding provided by the CTF will be on-lent alongside the proceeds of the bond issuance to further accelerate the uptake of resource efficiency investments by Yapı Kredi clients, according to the EBRD.

Mafalda Duarte, Head of the Climate Investment Funds, said: “This transaction is a great example of how the Clean Technology Fund continues to mobilise local private sector finance to scale up investment to address climate change. The Climate Investment Funds is proud to support the EBRD and Yapı Kredi Bank to incentivise Turkish home owners to invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency, and to mainstream climate finance in the Turkish financial sector.”

Promoting the use of sustainable energy and more environmentally friendly sources of energy is a priority for the EBRD in Turkey. Almost half of its projects in the country contribute to financing sustainable energy.

The EBRD is a major investor in the country. Since 2009, it has invested €10 billion in various sectors of the Turkish economy, with almost all investments in the private sector.

In 2017 alone, the EBRD invested €1.6 billion in 51 projects in Turkey. Almost a third of this financing was provided in Turkish lira.

Source: https://www.finchannel.com/business/71613-new-ebrd-financing-to-yap-kredi