Feed-in tariffs (FITs) have been the fuel for successful solar PV growth stories in basically every one of today’s large solar markets. First in Europe, now in China and Japan. The US is the only exception – backed by tax credits and net-metering, leasing has become a key means of financing residential solar systems there. With many European countries phasing out FITs, the simplicity of selling solar power will be gone; and without safe and fair returns, real estate and homeowners will not invest in PV anymore. In post-FIT times, solar companies and/or electric utilities in partnership with financial institutions will have to come up with new business models and financing schemes for PV investors in order to continue the success story of the FIT era. The German Solar Industry Association as project coordinator is driven by the mission to successfully evolve those business and financing models, to disseminate them among stakeholders and to shape the necessary policy framework and to remove barriers that prevent those models from realization. Consequently, the goal of PV Financing is to help stakeholders from specific application segments with the implementation of PV projects based on new PV business models while applying innovative equity and debt financing schemes. The availability of financing for PV projects based on the new business models shall be increased and the transaction costs shall be decreased by educating investors, commercial banks and insurance companies on the PV business models and their risks.

Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies (BDLTs) cover a revolutionary potential but their uptake and deployment to value chains other than financial ones remains slow. Among other causes, fragmentation and a series of obstacles to their market deployment hamper the diffusion and pace of adoption of BDLTs by SMEs. Blockpool.eu (https://blockpool.eu/) aims to enhance SME innovation capacity by providing better innovation support. We will use the power of intermediary organisations (clusters, federations...) and cross-regional industrial networks to Pilot the acceleration of SME uptake and deployment of BDLTs. Our consortium thus aims to accelerate the cross-border uptake and deployment of BDLTs by/to European SMEs. Blockpool.eu aims to grow beyond the Pilot Project to become a sustainable Portal for BDLT deployment. We will build and strengthen SMEs’ and intermediaries’ BDLT capacity in a cross-value chain fashion, and strengthening both supply and demand sides through 1) a Blockchain “deployment pool” and 2) generic support activities. Besides enabling actions toward framework conditions and the capacity increase of SMEs, intermediaries and to another extent policy makers and regulators, Blockpool.eu will develop a Deployment Pool: 25 SME projects will be selected through an Open Call allocating at least 50% of the total project budget to test and validate new BDLT solutions (TRL7+) in most prominent sectors (e.g. supply chain, energy, healthcare, Fintech, Insurance, Legal, Shipping & Social Good). SMEs will also benefit from the support of our Mentors Network, training (MOOC/Webinars), as well as other innovative tools. That way, Blockpool.eu will contribute to the demonstration of BDLTs to SMEs across EU value chains but also generate impacts at a broader level than the one of its Deployment Pool: we will generate impacts at the level of the framework conditions (economic, social, legal and regulatory) conditioning the uptake and deployment of BDLTs.

This FPA provides comprehensive programming and support for the European Commission’s Mission of 100 Climate-neutral and Smart Cities by 2030. It builds on the NetZeroCities (NZC) project, coordinated by CKIC. Combined, these two initiatives set out actions as follows: (a) Create and operate a Cities Mission Platform as a ‘one-stop-shop’ to access the expertise, capabilities, services, and solutions necessary to achieve climate neutrality. This Platform will provide tailored and intensive support to cities participating in the Mission and will ensure open access to the knowledge and resources of the Platform. (b) Help all Mission Cities with the co-creation and use of Climate City Contracts (CCC) to enable an ambitious pursuit of the goal of climate neutrality by 2030. This FPA expressly seeks to ensure all Mission Cities are supported and builds directly on the initial scope of NZC. In addition, support will be offered to additional cities seeking to follow closely the Mission. (c) Assist Mission cities in the development of tailor-made investment plans, project preparation and finance for the cities participating in the Mission; (d) Deliver substantial resources to Mission cities for ongoing research and innovation activities critical to achieving climate neutrality by 2030. This support will be in the form of ‘pilot’ funding to test and demonstrate actions needed to deliver climate neutral outcomes. This pilot activity will work together with the Platform and CCC processes in the cities, operationalizing emerging knowledge and insights about how cities can achieve the Mission objectives; and (e) Ensure ongoing monitoring and evaluation of cities in their progress toward climate neutrality and deploy peer-based learning to ensure full appropriability of the result from the Mission. The FPA periods extends through 2027 and provides for two planned Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) phases, where a precise plan, targets and metrics will be established.

<< Objectives >>The BESIDE project aims to create an innovative online course to train financial sector professionals, in line with European digital policy objectives, on emerging technologies and Blockchain applications in digital finance. The aim is to improve their digital readiness and resilience which will enable them to manage the digital transformation in providing comprehensive and digitally up-to-date financial services to their clients.<< Implementation >>To achieve the BESIDE objectives, several activities were identified and divided into 4 work packages:- Project Management activities -WP1- Definition of the syllabus and creation of the course material -WP2 DESIGN OF THE ONLINE EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMME- Creation of the online platform, preparation of the trainers and implementation of the course -WP3 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE TRAINING COURSE- Dissemination, communication, exploitation of results and follow-up -WP4 DISSEMINATION AND EXPLOITATION<< Results >>Considering the objectives and activities, the project aims at producing the following concrete results:- Improvement of skills and competences of course participants on the application of Blockcahin and new DLT technologies in the field of Digital Finance- Creation and delivery of a VET course and a new e-learning platform- Improved and customised services for financial operators' customers- Strengthened collaboration between the VET sector and financial sector representatives

The challenge we aim to address in this project is the lack of investment in sustainable energy and energy-efficient assets from public and private financial institutions. The core approach of the project is to define what a sustainable asset and a sustainable investment portfolio is, and to develop an assessment framework in order to allow financial institution to measure their ‘performance’ and set progress targets vis-à-vis energy-climate goals. This approach builds on the research done over the past few years by various organizations. The project will develop an assessment framework allowing investors to measure and manage their ‘climate performance’ (i.e. their exposure to sustainable energy and energy efficiency investments). This framework will include a translation of climate-energy investment roadmaps into targets for the finance sector, an assessment methodology for assets (e.g. equity shares in companies), and an assessment methodology for investment portfolios. The project will embed the framework into the standard toolbox used by investors to inform their asset allocation strategy, which will include an upgrade of databases used by investors; the integration of Sustainable Energy Investment performance metrics into portfolio optimisation tools, in order to allow investors to optimize climate and financial performance at the same time; and SEI benchmark indices in order to allow asset owners to integrate climate goals in the mandates of asset managers. The project will lead to several publications and a series of workshops with practitioners on Sustainable Energy Investment Metrics including a study on the risk-adjusted returns of SEI strategies; a study dealing with the implications of SEI metrics for financial policy-makers; and various workshops across Europe involving experts and financial institutions, to discuss methodological options, train practitioners on the assessment frameworks, and get feedbacks from road tests.