SMARTER Finance for Families – Pre-kick-off Meeting/Webcast

“Green Finance” is an important and developing trend which is intended to increase investments in environmentally and socially responsible projects while reducing financial risk to those lending for those projects. This concept creates a tremendous opportunity to improve the environmental performance, quality, health, comfort and financial viability of Europe’s new and existing housing stock.

Green Council BiHand 16 expert green building and green energy organizations across Europe have joined together to launch the “SMARTER Finance for Families” initiative. The consortium applied for and successfully qualified for a Horizon 2020 research grant from the European Commission to implement or expand the program in twelve countries including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.

The initiative has developed a low-cost but comprehensive Green Homes certification to assess and recognize the top performing residential projects utilizing sustainable construction principles. Financial and technical modelling have proven that investing in sensible measures for energy efficiency and other green building attributes for homes will improve housing quality, reduce the total monthly cost of ownership for the homeowner, allow for higher sales prices for the project developer/investor, and substantially reduce the financial risk for the bank offering the mortgage on the home. The existing program includes over 25 projects representing 6.000 housing units certified or in process.

SUGGESTED AUDIENCE

The presentation is addressed to residential project developers, financial institutions offering residential mortgages, and companies offering services, products, materials, technologies, and other solutions that contribute to the construction and operation of the greenest, most energy-efficient residential properties. Representatives of national and local government and associations promoting the environment, energy efficiency, and/or better housing are welcome to join to learn more about this important concept. This is relevant for the above-mentioned countries but also anyone interested in learning about the concept for their home market.

The Presentation will be made in English.

AGENDA (for those joining via webcast, please log in 10 minutes before to ensure your computer and software are ready to begin on time)
10:30am GMT / 11:30am CET / 12:30pm EET / 2:30pm (Georgia) – Program Starts (persons joining in-person in Bucharest are welcome to join at 12:00pm for coffee and networking)
The program will last approximately 45 minutes with 15 minutes for questions.

The event is free. Persons attending in person must register in advance via an email at info@rogbc.org with your name, company and role in the green building or finance industry if any.

To participate in the webcast, please connect here on February 25th, at 12:30pm EET.

Topics include:

  • an explanation of the status of Green Finance for residential buildings, the Green Homes & Green Mortgage concept, and a brief background on the SMARTER Finance for Families initiative and other related green finance initiatives
  • How can the business community and other stakeholders get involved and benefit? 
  • some examples of success stories including residential project and green financial products to date
  • next steps and timeline