Accelerating finance for climate-ready Positive Energy Neighbourhoods

Join us for a finance-focused webinar on how cities can move from planning to investment and accelerate the development of climate-ready Positive Energy Neighbourhoods (PENs).

As part of our finance webinar series, this session will show how municipalities can turn PEN concepts into bankable, socially inclusive investment programmes, combining deep renovation, renewable energy deployment, flexibility solutions, green infrastructure and community-centred approaches.

Through our work with thousands of European local authorities, we support cities in identifying financing pathways, accessing EU instruments, and structuring credible investment cases that help the transition from single-building projects to neighbourhood-scale transformation.

Agenda Highlights

• Opening remarks – EU Covenant of Mayors
• EU Covenant’s role in helping cities de-risk investments and secure funding for climate and energy projects.
  - Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE)
• Key financing barriers and de-risking tools from the oPEN Lab white paper “Enabling Financing for Positive Energy Neighbourhoods”, including practical guidance for developing investment-ready PEN portfolios.
• Experiences from Covenant of Mayors Signatory Cities:
  • City of Genk - Financing strategies behind the renovation of the Waterschei neighbourhood, addressing both social housing and private homeowners.
  • Pamplona City Council - Pamplona’s renewable energy community model and how it is designed to prioritise vulnerable households and reinvest benefits locally.
• Closing remarks – EU Covenant of Mayors 

Key Takeaways

• How EU CoM helps cities unlock finance through project development support, EU funding guidance and access to technical assistance.
• Why a neighbourhood-based approach enables scale, ambition and investment readiness.
• How blended funding models can support deep renovation and renewable energy.
• How to design inclusive financing schemes that support vulnerable households.
• Why social and environmental impact assessments strengthen financing proposals.