This funding complements an initial investment of €60 million made in January 2024 by Mirova, an affiliate of Natixis Investment Managers focused on sustainable finance, ADEME Investissement, and Fondaction. This brings SOFIAC’s total investment capacity to €210 million, enabling the deployment of energy transition and decarbonization projects through 2029. These projects are expected to save 150,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually.
This financing, secured from four leading financial institutions, underscores the robustness of SOFIAC’s model and its pivotal role as a key player in third-party financing for private sector energy efficiency retrofits in France.
Launched in January 2024 with the support of Mirova, ADEME Investissement, and Fondaction, SOFIAC develops, facilitates, and invests in major energy transition and decarbonization projects for companies in the industrial and commercial sectors. Working collaboratively with market stakeholders, the SOFIAC business model enables clients to benefit from the savings generated by reduced energy consumption without requiring any upfront investment. Total project costs are gradually reimbursed through a portion of the savings achieved over the contract period that extend to up to 15 years. This initiative aims to maximize companies’ ability to meet their energy transition and decarbonization goals without tapping into their cash reserves while simplifying project development and implementation through tailored support.
SOFIAC is involved in every stage of the process, from identifying projects, conducting detailed feasibility studies, and designing measures to operational implementation and ongoing measurement and verification of energy savings.
Today, the capital requirements to fund energy transition and decarbonization in France are estimated at €20 billion per year through 2030. While subsidies are available, they are far from sufficient, leaving businesses to face significant challenges in meeting the 2050 carbon neutrality goal.
“The government needs to rely on actors like us to support and implement its roadmap for the energy transition. We are thrilled that our approach has convinced all our public and private banking partners, and we thank them for their trust,”Stéphane le GentilManaging Director of SOFIAC in France
“SOFIAC offers industrial and commercial businesses an innovative alternative for energy efficiency and decarbonization projects. Together with our asset management subsidiary LBP AM, we are proud to support this initiative aligned with our group’s commitments to the energy transition, as arranger, lender, agent, hedging bank, and account bank.”Pascale MoreauDeputy CEO of the Corporate and Investment Bank at La Banque Postale
“We are proud to be SOFIAC’s first institutional debt partner. This financing supports the development of an innovative business model aggregating energy efficiency projects for buildings. The loan will reduce energy and water consumption, optimize energy-related costs, and deliver positive environmental impacts. These impacts will be transparently reported to our investors through ESG reporting developed jointly with SOFIAC.”Bérénice ArbonaHead of Infrastructure Debt at LBP AM
“SOFIAC is an innovative platform for third-party financing of energy efficiency projects in France, targeting SMEs and mid-sized companies. We are delighted to support SOFIAC and thus accelerate the decarbonization of French businesses. SOFIAC’s innovative model, already proven in Canada, provides French companies with a new tool to tackle the critical and essential challenge of decarbonization.”Jean-Pierre LenoirDirector of the SME and Midcap Investment Bank at BNP Paribas Commercial Banking in France
“We are pleased to support SOFIAC through this innovative third-party financing solution and share its ambition to concretely assist French SMEs and mid-sized companies in their energy transition journey.”Guillaume LeprieurMitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG)
- Contact
Agence Shan
- sofiac@shan.fr
