Circular Economy Regional Initiative (CERI), ERBD green city
Updated on 19.09.2023
Cities and regions in Turkey, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia or Serbia can apply for the Circular Economy Regional Initiative (CERI). CERI can offer three relevant services to cities and regions: 1) the implementation of circular performance-based financing (concessional co-financing); 2) technical assistance for adopting circular technologies and processes, and strategies; 3) monitoring and evaluation.
Relevance for Circular Systemic Solutions
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) provides loans, guarantees and equity to private, public and municipal sectors. From 2014 to 2019 it has invested more than € 1 billion in more than 100 circular projects. Since 2020 the ERDB has launched the CERI, which can be used to implement innovative resource-efficient technologies and circular processes.
A city or region can also apply to become a ERBD green city. The ERBD green city program strives to build a better and more sustainable future for cities and their residents by implementing a Green City Action Plan (GCAP).
The GCAP identifies and prioritises challenges within the city which can be addressed, then helps planning short- and long-term actions and financing the action plan, which can include development and implementation of a Circular Systemic Solution and/or its specific elements. The GCAP is implemented by working with local stakeholders, implementing the infrastructure investments and policy measures. The EBRD can support the city in these efforts by providing access to finance, as well as concessional loans and grants. The final service is the monitoring of the GCAP to ensure that the GCAP is progressing as planned and contributes to the established targets.
Applicant criteria
The program is open to private, public and municipal sectors who want to implement circular economy projects.
Eligible projects/themes
The ERBD supplies two types of circular economy services to cities or regions: CERI and the ERBD green city program.
CERI will provide funds to implement innovative resource-efficient technologies, circular processes and adopt circular business models. This will be achieved by improving the management of raw materials during the full lifecycle of products and diverting waste from landfills and the marine environment, reducing/avoiding ‘GHG’ emissions, eliminating, preventing and improving management of harmful chemicals – specifically persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and unintended persistent organic pollutants (UPOPs).
The ERBD green city program is focused on identifying, prioritising and connecting cities’ environmental challenges with sustainable infrastructure investments and policy measures.
Amount of funding
The total budget for the Circular Economy Regional Initiative is US$ 140 million.
The total budget for the Green city programme is € 1.5 billion.
The ERBD also offers general loans and equity financing. In general the loans for larger projects are between € 3 million and € 250 million. The ERBD offers equity stakes between € 10 and € 200 million with a wide range of instruments and a focus on impact investing.
Application process
Cities and regions can apply on the website or by contacting ERBD directly. The application process depends on the program.
Deadlines
There is no set deadline/deadline is on a needs basis.
<5 000
large 500 000-200 000, medium 200 000-50 000, and small cities 50 000-5 000
large metropolitan area >1.5 million, metropolitan area 1.5 million-500 000
predominantly urban regions, intermediate and predominantly rural regions, refer to TERCET typology NUTS 3 region
e.g. commercial, residential, service, industrial
