Study 7: Coverage of energy efficiency financing risks in industry

By helping to reduce the carbon footprint of one of the highest-emitting economic sectors, industrial energy efficiency is one of the key drivers of the energy transition. In France, many manufacturers have already adopted such measures, but ADEME estimates that 20 per cent of current industrial energy consumption could still be reduced through energy efficiency. Numerous stakeholders are well-positioned to address this challenge by offering increasingly innovative solutions. However, one of the major obstacles to the development of such initiatives is the difficulty in securing funding, given a number of risks that are highly specific to projects which combine both the energy and industrial sectors.

Against this backdrop, the members of the Industrial Alliance for Competitiveness and Energy Efficiency (ALLICE) wished to launch a study aimed at summarising the risks and risk-hedging instruments involved in the financing of industrial energy efficiency projects. This report also aims to provide concrete recommendations to aid decision-making, with a view to encouraging the development of energy efficiency projects, particularly those involving innovative technologies that may present significant investment risks. By setting out the risks perceived by manufacturers and their financiers, as well as the means to overcome them, this report aims to accelerate investment in industrial energy efficiency. This study is based on existing literature, as well as on interviews conducted with manufacturers and project financiers.