Description:
This evaluation assesses the performance
of International Finance Corporations (IFC's) energy
efficiency finance program in China aimed at stimulating
energy efficiency investments through bank guarantees and
technical assistance. The program's significance is
underpinned by the fact that China's size, rapid
economic growth, and inefficiencies in energy use make it
one of the world's largest emitters of carbon dioxide
(CO2.). The utilization of IFC's program has been rapid
compared with other similar programs. The difference made by
the program is traced along the chain of interventions: (i)
at the level of banks, the program is narrowly based on one
of the two partner banks, which, with the help of the
program, expanded its energy efficiency lending as a new
business line; (ii) at the level of energy management
companies, the program's technical assistance improved
the program participants' access to finance; and (iii)
at the end-user level, it promoted the use of energy
efficiency investments that achieved reduction of greenhouse
gas emissions. The evaluation recommends areas of
improvement to realize greater impact. First, the program
needs to emphasize areas where the potential additionality
is high, such as small enterprises. Second, the program
needs to concentrate more on activities that have the
potential to reduce emissions significantly, such as energy
efficiency for buildings. Third, the program's subsidy
elements need to be reoriented to the areas of market
failure, with IFC increasing its coverage of first loss from
its own resources.