The Advisory Council plays a key role in providing institutional support to the EEM Initiative, as a platform for the exchange of best practices and dialogue between policymakers and stakeholders from the financing and banking communities, property and construction sectors at local, European and global levels, with the ultimate goal of achieving market development in relation to energy efficient mortgages.
As of today, 47 European lending institutions, joined by 33 supporting organisations throughout the EU, have signed up to the Pilot Scheme and have committed to testing the implementation of the final energy efficient mortgages framework into their existing product lines and processes.
The EEM Initiative aims at delivering a mortgage financing mechanism, according to which borrowers are incentivised to improve the energy efficiency of their properties or to acquire highly energy efficient properties, by way of favourable financial conditions linked to the mortgage, for example. The Initiative will furthermore design a data collection infrastructure for energy efficient mortgages.
Luca Bertalot, Energy Efficient Mortgages Initiative Coordinator, commented:
“We are delighted to welcome University College Dublin, represented by Andreas Hoepner, Chair in Operational Risk, Banking & Finance, and Dr. Theodor Cojoianu, IRC & Marie Curie Research Fellow as new members of the Advisory Council of the Energy Efficiency Mortgages Initiative. We believe that their knowledge and expertise, combined with Mr Hoepner’s participation in the European Commission’s Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance (DG FISMA) will be a great asset for the initiative and help us to reinforce the linkages between the EEMI and the work of DG FISMA on sustainable finance. UCD will help us to play a pivotal role in building a greener and more sustainable planet for future generation.”
Prof. Andreas Hoepner and Dr. Theodor Cojoianu, said:
“We are very much delighted to join the Advisory Group of the Energy Efficient Mortgages initiative. The project is timely in the light of the recommendations of the EU Technical Expert Group on Sustainable Finance as well as the data and methodological developments needed to operationalise the recommendations at the EU level and beyond.”
Notes to the Editor:
The Energy Efficient Mortgages Action Plan (EeMAP) Initiative – led by the European Mortgage Federation-European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC),Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, RICS, the Europe Regional Network of the World Green Building Council, E.ON and SAFE Goethe University Frankfurt– aims to create an energy efficient mortgage through which homebuyers are incentivised to improve the energy efficiency of their building or acquire an already energy efficient property by way of favourable conditions liked to the mortgage. The cornerstone of the initiative is the assumption that energy efficiency has a risk mitigation effect for banks as a result of the impact on a borrower’s ability to service his/her loan and on the value of the property, a correlation which the EeMAP Initiative will seek to substantiate.
The Energy Efficiency Data Protocol and Portal (EeDaPP) Initiative – led by European Mortgage Federation-European Covered Bond Council (EMF-ECBC),Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, CRIF, European DataWarehouse, Hypoport, SAFE Goethe University Frankfurt and TXS - aims to design and deliver a market-led protocol, which will enable the large-scale recording of data relating to energy efficient mortgage assets, via a standardised reporting template. The data will be accessed by way of a common, centralised portal, allowing for continuous tracking of the performance of the energy efficient mortgage assets, thereby also facilitating the earmarking of such assets for the purposes of energy efficient bond issuance.
