A Financial Instrument That Creates Green Jobs
TEE, Titoli di Efficienza Energetica, Energy Efficiency Certificates, represent an all-Italian financial innovation that was introduced by the country's regulators in 2001, operationally implemented in 2004, and subsequently imitated by many other countries. It is a financial instrument that stimulates the economic system as a whole through markets for investment, and improves the energy efficiency of buildings, production cycles, and companies.
Today, it can be said that this tool is well established and has spawned a whole new sector in Italy, involving specially trained professionals and firms with good business performance. This is all the more valuable given the general trend in the construction industry towards economic contraction. The national regulatory framework was updated by the Ministerial Decree of 28 December 2012 and by Legislative Decree 102/2014 implementing the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (27/2012), addressing market distortions that had emerged.
From the standpoint of efficiency, certified energy savings amount to 21.8 Million tons of oil equivalent (Mtoe), or 17.6% of Italy's final energy consumption in 2015, a significant result both in economic and environmental terms.
The Italian Ministry of Economic Development has recently issued the guidelines of a new decree to regulate the market for energy efficiency bonds, by setting ambitious savings targets for 2020 and slightly altering certain market rules, in order to achieve, over the next four years, 36.4 Mtoe in additional savings. It is an important document because, by setting goals for 2020, it gives the market stability and encourages companies to invest in people and skills. It also simplifies certain administrative procedures and extends the coverage period of TEE for construction and industrial projects, allowing a greater scope for this financial asset. In the face of a real contraction in the economy, the efficiency sector is clearly countercyclical. It is capable of creating jobs, improving the country's environmental performance, and securing long-term return on investment with limited risk, if energy diagnoses are done with diligence and competence. It is a no-regret policy tool.
Thus energy efficiency is a emerging as a veritable industry, with dedicated professions and specialized firms (which make profits only through the savings they help their clients attain), as well as business ideas for the future. It's telling that major Italian energy companies all have business units operating in this market, and some have also created ad hoc companies which they control. The business model in energy supply has thus been radically transformed, because the cleanest and cheapest energy fuel is the one that is not burnt!