FELICITY II - Eastern Partnership and Central Asia Program

Technical and financial aspects hinder low carbon infrastructure finance. To reduce these barriers the project focuses on two sectors in its partner countries: residential energy efficiency and water and wastewater. On the national level, countries will be supported to create favourable framework conditions for infrastructure investments. Financial intermediaries will be strengthened to on-lend and structure climate finance. On the subnational level, experts and decision makers are supported to prepare bankable low carbon investment projects. This technical assistance will be coupled with a financial contribution by an international finance institution to ensure low-carbon infrastructure projects are implemented and scaled up. Through participating in infrastructure alliances, countries will benefit from learning from regional and international best practices. The project will directly contribute to strengthening the role of sustainable infrastructure in NDC implementation.

Project data

Countries: Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Moldova, Uzbekistan
IKI funding: 19,996,046.66 €
Included preparation phase: 256,046.66 €
Duration: 01/2022 till 02/2028
Status: open
Implementing organisation: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH
Political Partner: Ministry for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine

Ministry of Economy and Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan

Ministry of Energy - Kazakhstan

Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Moldova

Ministry of Industry and Infrastructural Development of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Implementing Partner: Association "Energy Efficient Cities of Ukraine" (EECU)

Association of Water Utilities of Ukraine

Center for Environmental Initiatives Ecoaction - Ukraine

Climate Policy Initiative (CPI)

Electric Power and Energy Saving Development Institute

European Investment Bank
Online: https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/143725.html

https://www.giz.de/de/weltweit/143725.html

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State of implementation/results

The FELICITY II programme is working closely with government ministries and local city officials in partner countries to build strong working relationships as basis for enhanced enabling environment, financial mechanisms and investment project elaboration. A flexible partner-oriented approach is crucial, especially during times of uncertainty and complexity, helping to create opportunities for investing in climate friendly infrastructure.
In Kazakhstan, jointly with the dena-led Kazakh German Energy dialogue and the EU Enable project, implemented by IWO e.V., FELICITY II is providing a comprehensive multi-level support for piloting and scaling of refurbishment of multi-family houses.
In the city of Kokshetau the piloting (planning phase) of an energy efficient refurbishment of a typical 80-appartment-house has been started in January 2025.
The learnings feed in efforts by the Energy Dialogue to support the creation and work of a National Project Office for fostering investments in the large-scale refurbishment.
FELICITY II facilitates a loan agreement between Kazakh Housing Company (KHC) and EIB and ensures high energy efficiency standards for new building construction projects.
Technical assistance for integrating energy efficiency standards into the construction of new buildings is being provided to KHC. This includes piloting the approach with one construction company in Astana, with support from dena.
Cooperation has been established with AFD (French Development Cooperation) and the Ministry of Health of Kazakhstan (via its subordinate institution TURAR) on energy-efficient hospital construction. The project design of one pilot hospital will be reviewed by dena experts.
In Ukraine, on 9 April 2025, the EIB and the Government of Ukraine signed the F Ukraine Water Recovery Framework Loan, providing a €100 million tranche for water supply and wastewater investments. The process has been supported by FELICITYII. The project continues to support the Ministry of Development in preparing the operational manual for the loan, including final selection criteria and conditions for the call for applications.
With the support of FELICITY II, the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine (MinDevelopment) launched a call for expressions of interest from utilities for a loan programme. Initial information was received on 98 projects totaling over €800 million. FELICITY II selected 5 projects at different stages of maturity for further development.
FELICITY II is supporting the process of developing a new adapted edition of the State Construction Standards for the water and wastewater sector, aimed at modernizing the industry according to EU directives as Ukraine moves toward EU accession.
FELICITY II is supporting Ukrainian ministries and the EIB in developing a pilot €30 million loan program for two municipalities, aimed at energy-efficient reconstruction of war-damaged residential buildings. A comprehensive concept has been developed with a partner consortium, consisting of EIB, dena, IWO e.V. and Bauhaus Earth. To ensure a broad uptake of lessons, a steering committee will include all relevant actors including the Energy Efficiency Fund (EEF), the EU Delegation and a wide range of Ukrainian NGOs. Criteria for city selection have been developed. Synergies with activities of other IKI projects in the building sector are actively sought.
In August 2025 the FELICITY II programme took on a component for the technical preparation of the technical design for EIB’s IKI Renewable Energy Solutions Program (Renewable Energy Solutions Programme (“RES Programme”).
In Uzbekistan, the city of Nukus, a pilot project for the renovation of a multi-apartment building in Nukus has been started. Already during the design phase valuable learnings in the field of capacity development could be gained for further incorporation in a respective handbook.
FELICITY II concluded two studies aiming at improving investment opportunities in the residential sector, which have been presented to EIB and partner ministries. This will inform recommendations to the upcoming new renovation program 2026-2030 under development by the Ministry of Construction for the refurbishment of 14 000 multi-apartment buildings.
Recommendations for the update of building standards to the EU level have been provided and additional ones are under development.
A project concept for energy-efficient refurbishment of public buildings in Uzbekistan, supported by FELICITY II has been approved by the Ministry of Energy. FELICITY II is developing a pipeline of 600 public buildings selectively to be assessed by express energy audits and to be included in the EIB financed UZPBEE project. After public consultations, the Ministry of Investment and International Trade (MIIT) will need to approve the project and submit an official funding request to EIB. A national feasibility study is also in progress for the loan project preparation.
In February 2025, Tashkent hosted the 1st CCFLA Central Asia Hub Forum, which brought 100 participants including 25 cities representatives from three Central Asian countries. The focus was on bridging national policies with local initiatives and developing concrete project concepts to access climate finance.
In Moldova, FELICITY II is advancing its support for the setup of a comprehensive database for energy efficiency in buildings.
The Ministry of Energy is supported with an embedded advisor for better coordinating energy efficiency funding programs (inter alia by EIB, AFD and KFW) and accelerating its implementation.
Together with GIZ’s Energy for Moldova project, the National Center for Sustainable Energy is supported with further development of the Energy Management Information System to strengthen energy management practices and sustainable financial mechanisms.