Catalyzing Environmental Finance for Low-Carbon Urban Development

URBANLED Project

 

Due to a long period of neglect and under-investment, urban infrastructure in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), public and residential buildings, energy systems and utilities, waste management and transport, require expansion and modernization. From a global environmental standpoint, this situation contributes to a steady increase in greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions, primarily associated with the energy use in public facilities. 

Public buildings in local governments are the largest energy users and sources of GHG emissions in BiH. Therefore, modernization, upgrade and expansion of these public buildings, their infrastructure and services will improve the quality of urban life and achieve a range of important environmental and sustainable development benefits in the country and globally.

To enable such transformational shift, the project Catalyzing Environmental Finance for Low-Carbon Urban Development (URBANLED) provided technical support in the implementation of technically and economically feasible low-carbon solutions in key urban sectors, as well as promoted their wider uptake by local governments and private sector in BiH through dedicated financial mechanisms.

URBANLED project objective

Strived to leverage investment for a transformational shift towards low-carbon urban development in Bosnia and Herzegovina, thereby promoting safer, cleaner and healthier cities, and reducing urban GHG emissions.

 

Project components

The project worked to remove barriers associated with inadequate access to finance, local capacity, policy and regulatory framework for Low-carbon Urban Development Concept (LCUD), through the following components:

C1: Support key environmental finance institutions to establish Innovative financing mechanism for implementation of LCUD,

C2 & C3: Work with relevant local governments to help build their capacity to identify, implement and monitor low-carbon projects in key urban GHG-emitting sectors, public facilities and utilities, as well as in waste management and logistics/transport,

C4: Work with relevant authorities at the state and entity level to design and adopt policies and regulations to enable the scale-up of low-carbon investment, and 

C4: Conduct awareness raising and an advocacy campaign to secure public support and promote behavioral changes towards low-carbon urban living.

URBANLED project components

Achieved results

The project has surpassed its target level, establishing the following partnerships with:

  • Environmental Funds for the implementation of ESCO and waste management,

  • Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH and entity-level institutions (Ministry of Finance of FBiH, Entity-level associations of accountants, Ministries of energy, spatial planning, and environmental protection in both entities) for developing the ESCO strategic and regulatory framework,

  • The Chambers of Commerce of FBiH and RS for creating ESCO Associations at the entity level,

  • Public utility companies (EP BiH, ERS, and EP HZHB) to become public ESCO companies,

  • Cities/municipalities of Bratunac, Cazin, Gradiška, Srbac, Stanari, Travnik, Busovača, Vitez, and Novi Travnik, public institutions and enterprises (Student Centre in Sarajevo, Hospital in Foča, communal enterprises in Cazin, Sarajevo, Gradiška, and Zvornik), and cantonal institutions (Ministry of Education in Central-Bosnia Canton, Ministry of Internal Affairs in Central-Bosnia Canton, Prime Minister’s Cabinet in Zenica-Doboj Canton, and Ministry of Education of Zenica-Doboj Canton) for the implementation of LCUD projects through the ESCO model,

  • Cities/municipalities of Cazin, Mostar, Gradiška, Prijedor, and Ilidža for the development and support of prosumers at the local level,

  • Cities/municipalities of Cazin, Livno, Novi Travnik, Breza, Trebinje, Bijeljina, Doboj, and Zvornik for the implementation of green logistic schemes for municipal waste management.

The project also established the following partnerships with:

  • Ministries of energy, spatial planning, and environmental protection in both entities for updating and adopting rulebooks for contracting and implementing energy services in FBiH and RS,

  • Public institution (Student Centre in Sarajevo) and cantonal institutions (Prime Minister’s Cabinet in Zenica-Doboj Canton and Ministry of Education of Zenica-Doboj Canton) for the implementation of LCUD projects through the ESCO model.

The total amount of project-facilitated investments is approximately 26,000,000 USD.

Implementation of the URBANLED investment and infrastructure activities will result in an 18,763.81 tCO2eq emissions reduction over their lifetime. The project significantly exceeded the targets, accounting for 164,677 beneficiaries, with 50.8% women.

Component 1: Innovative Financing Mechanism for Implementation of Low-Carbon Urban Development Concept (LCUD)

  • The project has already reached its end target with 1,426 representatives of public sector stakeholders and 423 representatives of private sector stakeholders trained and educated, with over 50% women participants.

  • During the project implementation, the ESCO module in EMIS and the Handbook for ESCO module, the Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) protocols for different ESCO projects (public buildings, heating systems, public lighting systems, and waste transportation) were developed, as well as the draft Roadmap for ESCO market development in BiH, which includes instructions for MRV system deployment and the draft Rulebooks for contracting and implementation of energy services in FBiH and RS that state the obligation of MRV and formulate the MRV process to be undertaken by Entity’s Environmental Funds and Ministries of Energy in FBiH and RS.

  • Integrated ESCO into the Rulebook on income tax in FBiH, introduced accounting and bookkeeping standards for ESCO projects in FBiH and RS, and established contractual and implementation arrangements for the repayment mechanism.

  • The MRV protocols for different ESCO projects have been tested, and the ESCO projects Guidebook with concrete instructions for MRV of individual ESCO projects by the end-user, the ordering party, and the ESCO company, has been developed.

Component 2: Low-Carbon Public Facilities and Utilities

  • The number of facilities and utilities covered by EMIS at the municipal level totaled 3,936. In cooperation with the GCF Low-Carbon project, it entered into EMIS 388 public facilities and utilities at the municipal level.

  • In total since project initiation, data on 1,639 public facilities and utilities formally registered as owned or used by municipalities have been covered by EMIS. This means that the project has achieved the revised end-of-project target (1,500 buildings).

  • The project has reached 3,703 persons trained in energy management and LCUD project design and implementation, surpassing the end-of-project target, as it has directly provided training to over 2,349 representatives of the public and private sectors (with an average participation of women around 40%).

  • The project has implemented 65 LCUD infrastructural projects.

Component 3: Low-Carbon Waste Management and Logistics (Transport)

  • The project has succeeded in achieving the end-of-project target by having a digital waste management system functional in both entities of BiH and recognized through the legal framework. The Waste Management System (WMS) of FBiH has been finalized and in use since the beginning of 2021, while the IT WMS in RS was finalized in May 2023, with the transfer of ownership to the Environmental Fund of RS in July 2023. Both systems are designed to enable the usage and generation of reliable waste-related data for drafting strategic and action plans, monitoring their implementation and results in terms of GHG emissions reduction and waste generation, as well as reporting to the European Union on waste generation and flows in BiH.

  • Advocating for data entry into the system and promoting the registration of responsible entities into Waste Management Systems of FBiH and RS.

  • The implemented green logistic scheme for waste management pilot projects has resulted in a 22.96% reduction in fuel consumption in six municipalities.

  • Procurement of additional plastic and metal bins for eight cities/municipalities in FBiH and RS to optimize waste collection routes and reduce fuel consumption.

Component 4: National and Sector Policies, Institutional Coordination, and Awareness Raising on LCUD

  • The project has developed 65 local, entity, and state-level regulations, legal analyses, and strategic documents supporting LCUD development: Strategic document for coordinated strategic decision-making on energy efficiency policies at the state level, Rulebook for conducting energy audits for utility companies (public lighting, water, district heating, waste management, etc.) in FBiH, SECAP for 42 local governments, Amendments to the Law on Waste Management of the Republika Srpska, Conceptual model of waste management in the Banja Luka region, Analysis of environmental fees in FBiH and RS with recommendations for the introduction of the "polluter pays" principle, FBiH Air Protection Law, Rulebook on Greenhouse Gas Inventory in FBiH, Regulation on Environmental Impact Assessment in FBiH, Rulebook on Issuing Environmental Permits in FBiH, Plan for Introducing the "Polluter Pays" Principle, Method and Methodology to Unambiguously Determine the Existence of Air Pollution, Law on Climate Change in RS, Report Form within the country and guidelines for reporting on SECAP progress.

  • The project has advocated the adoption of legal and strategic documents by relevant governmental levels during the remaining project period.

  • The project facilitated the adoption of 46 regulations and strategic documents.

  • The project has cumulatively reached the following:

    - Online promotion: 1,062,352 people reached (146,000 in 2022, 310,090 in 2021, 79,221 in 2021, 477,500 in 2020, 39,541 in 2019), out of which 54% were women.
    - TV media: 1 million citizens.
    - Face-to-face modality: more than 1,200 representatives of the public, commercial, and residential sectors.

 

Duration:

2018 - 2024

Donor:

Global Environment Facility (GEF) 

Value: 

USD 2,370.000

Main partners:

Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Ministry of Spatial Planning, Civil Engineering and Ecology of Republika Srpska, Ministry of Environment and Tourism of FBiH, Environmental Fund of FBiH, Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund of Republika Srpska.