"Old meets new" in the built environment

The built environment is one of the key areas within the energy transition that Invest-NL has chosen to focus on as a financing partner. Yvonne Neef, Team Lead for Energy Transition, looks back on seven hectic weeks, the first in Invest-NL’s history.

Invest-NL is up and running, open for business. Are you satisfied with the story so far?
“Yes! It’s already clear that a great many businesses know where to find us. The built environment is a tricky area: the uncertainties surrounding the speed of the sustainability transition and the frameworks set by the government mean that almost all parties are finding it difficult to obtain funding. That’s often why they get in touch with Invest-NL. We are now looking to see which initiatives we can help, and how. Our stated aim is to do this by developing solutions that can be applied across the sector. At the same time, of course, we’re also here to benefit individual companies.”

What else is happening?
"We are being approached by municipalities with a strong focus on achieving the goals of the Climate Agreement, and by companies that have developed new solutions to facilitate property owners who want to make their real estate more sustainable.But also by engineers pioneering new techniques to accelerate the energy transition or make it more affordable, and by committed citizens with good ideas of their own or who simply want to wish us well in tackling the inspiring but challenging job that lies ahead.With all this attention, we couldn’t have wished for a better start. It is now up to us to find ways to help as many initiatives as possible.”

What have you noticed in the conversations you’ve had so far?
"Firstly, that people are looking to housing associations to drive the shift towards sustainability in the built environment. I am well aware that this represents a huge task for these organisations. The main reason – though not the only one – is because people think the associations are in a strong financial position when often they are not.Over the past seven weeks, I have encountered several start-ups that have developed their own very attractive propositions for this target group. It’s a matter of technology, of course, but it’s also about making sure the investment is affordable and feasible. Old meets new: that’s the kind of solution I like!”

“A great deal of energy is also being channelled into making homes more sustainable. Meanwhile initiatives geared towards making SMEs and offices more sustainable are also gaining ground. These include innovative models that separate the delivery of the installation from the financial side, an approach that enables everyone to keep focusing what they do best (technicians can install; financiers can finance) while keeping customer investment within manageable proportions.”

What do you think is the main challenge for 2020?
"We need to make the whole chain run smoothly. That’s a huge challenge! Everyone is doing their own thing and doing it well, but when it comes time to join the dots, either these individual initiatives don’t match up or the costs go through the roof. My main message is that we need to pull together to create a chain that runs smoothly and affordably.”

What role do you envisage for Invest-NL?
“This is an important year: in 2020 the frameworks for making the built environment more sustainable (such as the Heating Supply Act) are taking shape, while several pilot projects are being implemented and the regional energy strategies are being delivered in draft form.”

“These developments are going to expose where the real problems lie. As Invest-NL, we already know that financing is a barrier. Many sustainability initiatives in the built environment are still being subsidised. Once we start scaling up, that will no longer be tenable. Invest-NL is currently working with other financiers to come up with a collective solution for this dilemma.”

“That solution doesn’t have to be a financing instrument. It could also take the form of a guarantee of purchase, for example. Or it might be achieved by implementing a new technique or by optimising the system, for instance through creating the means to store heat or electricity. In other words, there’s still plenty to do!”