The first privately funded Environmental Upgrade Agreement (EUA) has been signed under the City of Melbourne’s 1200 Building Program, paving the way for property owners to access finance for environmental retrofits of commercial buildings.

National Australia Bank (NAB) has partnered with Low Carbon Australia Limited to develop a finance product that encourages commercial property owners to carry out sustainability upgrades through EUAs.

The building owners of 123 Queen Street, Melbourne will use the EUA to fund the implementation of a tri-generation system, occupancy sensors and facade upgrade which will result in the building’s NABERs rating increasing from two to four stars.

NAB’s Head of Property Finance, Andrew Balzan said that NAB is pleased to be a part of pioneering Australia’s environmental finance market.

“NAB has worked extensively with the City of Melbourne to successfully legislate this new initiative, the key component of which is the partnership between building owners, tenants, councils, solution providers and capital providers.

“The signing of 123 Queen Street in Melbourne signals the first privately funded EUA. It is the first product of its kind in Australia, with legislation now implemented in parts of NSW and Victoria,” Mr Balzan said.

CEO of Low Carbon Australia, Ms Mcdonald, said: “This is a major milestone for low carbon finance in the Australian property sector. We are excited to be involved in the finance solutions readily available to building owners who wish to progress now to retro fit their properties and start capturing energy savings and reducing carbon emissions.”

City of Melbourne Eco-City Councillor Cathy Oke said the signing marked an important milestone.

“We know that access to affordable capital is a major barrier in retrofitting commercial buildings. This innovative financial mechanism removes this barrier and equips building owners with the financial tools they need. I’m confident we will see many more signings like it in the future,” Cr Oke said.

The NAB Environmental Upgrade Funding will be funding individual projects from $250,000 to $10 million.

For further information:
NAB
Elisha Vincent, 0429 566676
Low Carbon Australia
Carmel Nugent, 0407 940 253

About NAB
NAB was the first Australian bank to achieve National Carbon Offset Standard (NCOS) Carbon Neutral Program certification for its carbon neutrality. NAB is committed to reducing its own carbon emissions through energy efficiency and fuel switching, and as a result has reduced business as usual carbon emissions by almost 65,000 tonnes since 2006.
NAB has expanded its commitment to deliver on resource efficiency and waste reduction through their Beyond Carbon Neutral program.

About Environmental Upgrade Agreement
Environmental Upgrade Agreement’s are an innovative way of financing environmental upgrades in commercial buildings. They are a tri-partite agreement between a building owner, local council and financier. Under the terms of a EUA the building owner is advanced funds for the upgrade by the financier in exchange for having a new council charge, an Environmental Upgrade Charge (EUC) levied on the building by the local council. The council then collects this charge and passes it back to the financier.

In September 2010 the Victorian Parliament passed Australia’s first legislation to support the large scale environmental retrofit of city buildings. The City of Melbourne Act 2001 was amended to enable Melbourne City Council to levy a new form of statutory charge, called the Environmental Upgrade Charge. This provided the basis for Environmental Upgrade Agreement, a new market-based mechanism established to enable non-residential building owners to access capital to undertake environmental improvements.

The City of Sydney has also implemented Environmental Upgrade Agreements. NAB is also engaged with other Greater Sydney Council’s to make NAB Environmental Upgrade Funding available in the near future.

About Low Carbon Australia
Low Carbon Australia Limited was set up by the Australian Government in 2010 as a company limited by guarantee with an independent board of directors and over $100 million in funding to provide financial solutions and advice to Australian business, government and the wider community to help the move to a low carbon future.

Low Carbon Australia also provides Government backed certification for carbon neutral products and organisations. For more information about Low Carbon Australia visit www.lowcarbonaustralia.com.au

About City of Melbourne
The City of Melbourne is open for applications from commercial buildings owners in Melbourne to finance environmental upgrade work through its 1200 Buildings Program.

Environmental upgrades include the installation of energy efficiency improvements, renewable energy systems, and water conservation improvements.

To learn about environmental retrofits in Melbourne visit: www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/1200buildings/

To apply for Environmental Upgrade Finance visit: http://www.sustainablemelbournefund.com.au/euf