Energy Efficiency (EE) has been identified as one of the most cost-effective means aiming at reducing energy consumption, while maintaining an equivalent level of economic activity. Mainstreaming EE financing is considered as a key priority to avert climate change. The lack of evidence on the performance, commonly agreed procedures and standards for EE investments, particularly during the first stages of investments generation and pre-selection/ pre-evaluation, are the key problems hampering EE investments financing. It is also true that often project developers do not have the expertise or resources to make a convincing financing case for investors. In order to boost EE investments, this paper proposes a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methodology with the aim to support financing institutions to identify attractive EE project ideas in the early development phase of project initiation and planning. The study implements the ELECTRE TRI method, in order to benchmark EE project ideas in a standardized, investor recognizable credit rating form. A respective web-based tool facilitating the methodology and the screening of EE projects is also developed, supporting financing bodies and EE funds to rapidly detect and aggregate projects that meet the necessary criteria to be financed.

Energy Efficiency (EE) plays a key role in decreasing energy consumption at a European level, while it is considered as one of the most cost-efficient means to achieve carbon reduction and reinforce energy sufficiency and security. EE financing is imperative to implement measures that will lead to achieving the desired carbon neutrality and, thus, avert climate change. The majority of EE investments ideas are abandoned during the first stages of investment generation as there is not enough interest by the involved actors to support the maturing of the idea. The present paper aims to boost EE investments by developing a webbased Tool that evaluates project ideas, connecting them with real financing proposals. All the above are being realised through standardised procedures, establishing a concrete typology of five ( 5) EE sectors, a well-structured risk assessment methodology of five ( 5) risk categories and (9) risk factors, and a benchmarking procedure that takes into account four (4) broadly used economic criteria and eleven (11) verified sustainability indicators. All the parameters are calculated using the candidate project data and EU official statistics, formulated into four (4) main criteria that are fed into a MultiCriteria Decision Analysis that performs the project's benchmarking. The presented methodology is being practically tested through the development of three (3) innovative Tools (Assess, Agree, Assign) and a stakeholder consultation process with around 200 participants. The Tools filter and benchmark candidate project ideas, based on the standardised benchmarking and the EU Taxonomy sustainability principles, while connecting the most promising project ideas with state-of-the-art financing methods, such as the Green Loans, the Green Bonds and the Energy Efficiency Auctions. By this token, the developed Tools provenly provide added value to the respective stakeholders, offering standardisation in EE project benchmarking and financing, building trust between investors and projects developers.

The energy demand of modern communities contributes significantly to climate change, increasing the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Energy efficiency is recognised as the key pathway to reducing energy usage while sustaining an equivalent, contemporary economic activity. In other words, to avoid climate change, mainstreaming energy efficiency finance is considered a top priority. This study focuses on introducing a rating system based on a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method that aims to promote the implementation and financing of energy efficiency investments. To this end, a benchmarking Tool is being deployed in order to materialise the proposed methodology and introduce a standardised procedure for benchmarking energy efficiency potential projects during the preliminary stages of investment conceptualisation. The proposed Tool exploits the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis method ELECTRE Tri, taking into account major key performance indicators that are broadly used by investors and financing institutions to identify bankable energy efficiency investments and promote green transition. The methodology has been applied to benchmark 114 energy efficiency investments from eight different European countries. It should be mentioned that for the successful and effective development of the proposed Tool, input and feedback has been received by a variety of stakeholders from the energy sector and financing community, who also tested the Tool and confirmed that the approach proved to be extremely helpful to those seeking for sustainable investments in energy efficiency. The analysis resulted in the conclusion that the Tool covers the necessity for a standardised benchmark, providing added value to the energy efficiency market.

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Innovative solutions to de-risk investments in energy efficiency projects, which the EU’s goal of being carbon neutral by 2050.