FELICITY

Climate change and rapid urban development, particularly in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, demand increased investment in sustainable infrastructure. These investments are crucial for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and strengthening urban resilience.

Many municipalities face challenges in developing investment-ready projects that align with national climate goals and attract sustainable long-term financing. To overcome these barriers, the Financing Energy for Low-carbon Investment – Cities Advisory Facility (FELICITY) provides targeted technical assistance and supports capacity development for public authorities and their partners. The programme helps cities and national institutions create an enabling environment and prepare bankable, climate-smart infrastructure investments.

Between 2017 and 2022, FELICITY delivered advisory services and capacity development tailored to the needs of municipalities and financial intermediaries in Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador and Indonesia.

Our support focused on district heating and cooling networks, public lighting systems and public transport and infrastructure. The results speak for themselves:

• €541 million: estimated investment volume of the ten supported projects
• 1.98 million tCO₂eq: estimated emissions reduction over 15 years – equivalent to the annual greenhouse gas emissions of approximately 430 000 passenger cars
• 5 000+ professionals benefited from the programme
• additional financing facilitated, for example a $100 million EIB loan for water and sanitation projects in Ecuador

Since 2022, the second phase of the programme has focused on Ukraine, Moldova, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. We assist national counterparts in developing scalable models for energy efficiency investments in buildings and in the water and wastewater sectors, aligning with each country’s development and decarbonisation priorities. In Ukraine, a special focus is placed on rebuilding war-damaged infrastructure.

Find out more about FELICITY in our project leaflet and watch how FELICITY accelerates investments for low-carbon cities.