December 18 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Monday it has provided a financing package for an energy efficiency project of Serbian fashion company Eminent.
The Serbian firm has invested 231,120 euro ($272,527) in the acquisition of new washing machines, a textile spray cabin and a tumble dryer with the support of the EBRD and the European Union under the Western Balkans Sustainable Energy Financing Facility (WeBSEFF), the bank said in a statement.
The investment will allow Eminent to decrease its energy costs by approximately 36,000 euro per year, so the energy savings alone will help repay the investment in six and a half years, the EBRD said.
"Supporting energy efficiency is at the core of the Bank’s strategy in Serbia and WeBSEFF has proven to be an effective instrument for catalysing energy efficiency investments in the country, particularly in the SME sector," the EBRD head for Serbia, Daniel Berg, said in the statement.
The loan from the EBRD and WeBSEFF allowed Eminent to work with innovative and energy-saving machinery which automatically put the old equipment out of use, the general manager of the Serbian company, Jasna Papak, said.
Recently the EBRD adopted a new Green Economy Transition approach, under which the bank is aiming to step up its green financing to around 18 billion euro, or 40% of its total annual investments, by 2020.
($ = 0.8481 euro)