Our Energy Efficiency Program provides finance and advice to Australian businesses and the wider community through innovative programs to catalyse investment in take-up and use of energy-efficient technologies and practices for cost-effective carbon reductions.

The Energy Efficiency Program has funding of $87.6 million and will make co-investments to stimulate private sector investment in projects within the manufacturing and industry sectors and for energy efficiency retrofits of existing buildings, seeking a positive return on its investments and addressing traditional barriers and market failures in implementing energy efficiency improvements.

The diagram below plots the barriers against the different stages of the energy-efficiency journey, and shows how they can overlap.

The path to sustainable energy-efficiency improvement

• Many cost-effective energy-efficiency measures are not being implemented because of barriers to uptake.
• Multiple barriers exist and all need to be addressed before energy-efficiency measures can be implemented by an organisation or consumer.
• There are standard barrier types that prevent energy-efficiency measures being taken up.
• Actual barriers vary by sector and are present throughout the energy-efficiency journey.

Low Carbon Australia focuses on projects with high demonstration value in order to catalyse wider investment. It prioritises projects which leverage additional private-sector finance and are scalable, replicable and adaptable.

Low Carbon Australia is building a portfolio of investments in projects which prove-up and demonstrate a range of innovative financing and delivery models for energy-efficiency improvements across multiple business types and locations around Australia.

Rigorous criteria are applied to ensure that projects deliver cost-effective emissions reductions through energy savings and are genuinely additional to business-as-usual. Low Carbon Australia will provide accountability on the outcomes of its activities through robust monitoring and reporting. A key part of the model will be to provide case studies to promote the learning and experience gained from the energy efficiency projects. Low Carbon Australia is also undertaking activities which build energy efficiency knowledge and capacity in the Australian market.

Projects are developed with established partners using commercially available technologies, in order to minimise risk and achieve early results.

Low Carbon Australia leverages and complements the existing broad array of energy-efficiency policy measures and complement efforts at all levels of government under the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) National Strategy on Energy Efficiency.

Example of government-endorsed measures to support energy- efficiency improvement in a commercial building’s lifecycle

This is achieved through ‘sign-posting’ and case studies to widen communication and awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency and also help businesses identify and benefit from the most appropriate existing measures to help deepen their impact.

For further information see our financial products and services. If you are interested in being considered for co-investment and financing for Energy Efficiency projects with the Low Carbon Australia, please see the Request for Proposals  page or contact us at: submissions@lowcarbonaustralia.com.au

To read about our successful Co-investment Finance initiatives, please view our Co-Financier Fact Sheets