The SMAFIN Expanded project is organising its third Cross-Country Lab, focusing on one of the most pressing challenges in the energy transition: the gap between the availability of financing instruments and the actual delivery of investments.
Across Europe, a wide range of policy tools and financial schemes has been developed to support energy efficiency. However, their translation into bankable projects and measurable investment flows remains limited. Understanding how financing mechanisms move from design to real transactions is therefore critical to scaling investments and achieving impact.
The third Cross-Country Lab will bring together policymakers, financial institutions, public authorities, technical experts, and market actors from Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Romania, and Slovenia. The objective is to facilitate a structured exchange on the practical challenges hindering implementation, as well as the conditions required to unlock and scale investment flows across national contexts.
The discussion will be structured around three key dimensions. It will first establish a common understanding of what constitutes a transaction in energy efficiency financing and why the existence of financial instruments does not automatically lead to investment. It will then examine the main bottlenecks that interrupt the investment pipeline, including financial, regulatory, and structural barriers. Finally, it will explore the enabling conditions necessary to support market uptake, focusing on risk-sharing mechanisms, standardisation, technical assistance, and stable institutional frameworks.
The session will conclude with a reflection on the potential for replication and the relevance of these findings for Balkan and Southern European markets.
The Cross-Country Labs are part of SMAFIN Expanded’s broader effort to strengthen cooperation among public and private stakeholders and to support the development of effective, scalable financing frameworks for energy efficiency.
The session will take place online on Thursday, 30 April 2026, from 10:00 to 12:00 CEST.
Registration is available via the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_i6ei-VfFT5ejhX5qxL_DYA
You may read the full event agenda here.
Interested in finding out the results of the previous Cross-Country Labs? You can access the 1st Cross-Country Lab Factsheet here and the 2nd Cross-Country Lab Factsheet here.
| Event Outline – Agenda | |
| 10.00 – 10.15 | Session I: Introductory Intervention by Adrien Bullier, Policy Officer, CINEA |
| 10.15 – 11.00 | Session II: Where Transactions Break. Diagnosing Bottlenecks Moderator: Alice Corovessi, Managing Director INZEB Kamelia Georgieva, Senior Expert in International Programs and Projects, National Trust EcoFund (Bulgaria) Dijana Bezjak, Head of Service for Financial Instruments at the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds (Croatia) Ioana Voinescu, Head of Sustainability Department, Banca Comercială Română S.A. (Romania) |
| 11.00 – 11.45 | Session III: What Enables Scale: Minimum Conditions for Market Uptake Moderator: Nicholas Stancioff, Member of the Management Board, Latvian Building Energy Efficiency Facility Eleni Gioti, Civil and Transport Engineer, M.Sc., former European Investment Bank (EIB) Executive (EU-Level Experience) Iva Petkova, Director of Development, Fund FLAG (Bulgaria) Despoina Kouzioka, National Bank of Greece (Greece) |
| 11.45 – 12.00 | Session IV: Replication and Balkan / Southern EU Relevance Kiki Papadopoulou, CRES – SMAFIN Expanded Coordinator Alice Corovessi, INZEB |