Almost 150 kindergartens in the Armenian capital of Yerevan will benefit from improvements to energy efficiency and resilience to earthquakes by 2020, thanks to EU support. Around 30 kindergartens will be fully renovated, while another 118 will benefit from a light renovation including energy efficiency measures.
The improvements will create a much safer and caring environment for approximately 34,500 people, including pupils, teachers and staff members, and will contribute to climate change mitigation and reduce Yerevan’s municipal budget expenditure for energy services by €1.1 million.
“The EU bank [European Investment Bank], together with its partners, is making a real difference for the people of Armenia. We encourage projects like this one that help to improve the environment and therefore also the quality of life”, declared EIB Vice-President Vazil Hudák.
The kindergartens will benefit from a €5 million grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), to which the European Union is the largest contributor. The project is jointly implemented by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Municipality of Yerevan, the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme. The grant completes the EIB loan of €7 million signed in 2017.
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The E5P is part of the EU4Energy Initiative. EU4Energy covers all EU support to improve energy supply, security and connectivity, as well as to promote energy efficiency and the use of renewables in the Eastern Partner countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine). It does this by financing projects and programmes that help to reform energy markets and to reduce national energy dependence and consumption. Over the long term, this makes energy supply more reliable, transparent and affordable, thus reducing energy poverty and energy bills for both citizens and the private sector.
