The world’s first ‘energy positive’ residential impact fund, which will invest a planned EUR500million in Elithis Towers, designed to produce more energy than the building and tenants consume, across cities in France, has been launched by Berlin-based Catella Residential Investment Management (CRIM). The towers, developed by French sustainable building engineering and real estate developer Elithis Groupe, deliver both operational carbon neutrality and effective affordable rents through the elimination of domestic energy bills, hence increasing each household’s annual purchasing power.
The new Catella Elithis Energy Positive Fund (CEEPF) qualifies as an Article 9 ‘dark green’ impact fund, the highest designation under the EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation. The first energy positive buildings to be invested by the Fund are already under agreement in the cities of Bordeaux, Clermont-Ferrand, and Nancy. A further 20-25 additional sites have been identified across France with current work in progress in cities including: Mulhouse, Brest, and other suburban areas near Paris. Other European cities in markets including Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, will follow in other fund strategies as part of a wide-ranging 10-year investment programme targeting a total investment volume of EUR2 billion in developing 100 Elithis Towers across Europe.
Xavier Jongen, Managing Director, CRIM, said: “Our new impact fund is a trail-blazing global first for Catella in partnership with Elithis. These towers outperform the EU’s 2050 net carbon zero target operationally by using technologies which render them energy positive from the start and they can be built at market standard construction costs. The residents benefit from a substantial reduction or complete elimination of their household energy bills, which makes effective apartment rents more affordable than comparable homes in the neighbourhood -- around 5per cent to 10per cent lower on average -- and this is particularly relevant at a time of soaring energy prices in Europe. The Elithis Towers are the ‘decarbonisation and societal fairness benchmark of the future’ for the pan-European residential investment market, and we are looking for like-minded impact investors to partner with Catella in realising what could be a catalyst for the sustainable transformation of our cities way beyond even our ambitious current plans.”
Source: catella.com on the 18th of March 2022
https://www.catella.com/en/germany/news-and-press-releases/press-releases/2022/catella-launches-worlds-first-energy-positive-residential-impact-fund-to-invest-in-elithis-towers-across-france