OREANDA-NEWS. August 10, 2010. At its session the Government of the Republic approved the sale of Estonia’s unused emission rights or Assigned Amount Units (AAUs) to the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Under a Green Investment Scheme (GIS), the proceeds totaling 30 mil EUR will be invested into energy efficiency improvement of apartment houses.

According to energy audits and studies up to 50% of energy consumed in old apartment buildings in Estonia could be saved with thermal insulation, replacement of windows, reconstruction of heating systems, complex renovation and other means. Thus the potential for energy saving and thus CO2 reduction is immense. The GIS measure will enable to cover up to 35% of the cost of renovation depending on the amount of energy savings achieved. The application round for housing associations will be opened already this month by the Credit and Export Guarantee Fund, KredEx.

With the entry into force of this transaction Estonia has sold AAUs under GIS of the value over 100 million Euros. The earlier transactions have been concluded with Austria, Spain and Japanese bank SMBC.