The Energy Efficient Mortgages Initiative (EEMI) has received a new round of funding from the EU for its latest project, the Energy Efficient Mortgage Market Implementation Plan (EeMMIP), under which it will seek to demonstrate the energy efficient mortgage (EEM) product and establish an EEM Label.

Coordinated by the European Mortgage Federation-European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC), the initiative gained two previous rounds of EU funding – for the Energy Efficient Mortgages Action Plan (EeMAP) and Energy Efficient Data Portal & Protocol (EeDaPP) – and the latest €1.5m award also comes from the Horizon 2020 programme.

According to the EMF-ECBC, the EeMMIP will build on the EEMI’s ongoing efforts to develop energy efficient mortgages by seeking to deliver an integrated market in Europe.

“The project will conduct an analysis of the current market systems relevant to the development of an EEM market and establish demonstrators to support the demonstration of the end-to-end customer journey and EEM life-cycle in Italy (Province of Trento) and the UK (Scotland),” said the industry body. “It will establish market-based governance and an EEM Label to support recognition of and confidence in EEM and facilitate access to quality information for market participants.”

It also hopes to create a blueprint for established and emerging markets around the globe, and deliver guidance for the inclusion of energy efficiency in credit risk assessments for lending institutions and prudential regulation.

The Central Bank of Hungary (MNB) – a member of the EEMI advisory council – took a pioneering step in the latter sphere in December when it introduced a green preferential capital requirement programme whereby in a four year scheme from 1 January it is allowing banks to hold less capital against discounted energy efficient mortgage lending. (The CBR will be covering this initiative in the coming week.)

“In light of the latest developments of Energy Efficient Mortgage Initiative – with 52 pilot banks active in implementing an energy efficient mortgage label and quantitative datawarehouse – we believe that our initiative is one of the most concrete and timely actions supporting the European Commission agenda of the European Green Deal,” Luca Bertalot, EEMI coordinator and EMF-ECBC secretary general, told The CBR.

The European Green Deal, launched on 11 December, is a package of measures aimed at enabling the EU to become climate-neutral by 2050 in a just sustainable green transition.

The EMMI will be holding a Brussels meeting with pilot banks on 10 February and the project itself will kick off in June.

Photo: European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen presenting the European Green Deal to the European Parliament, Brussels, on 11 December; Credit: Etienne Ansotte/EC – Audiovisual Service; Copyright: EU