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Environmental strategies and financing 

COWI is a major player in the preparation of environmental financing strategies at national and regional levels in Europe. We base our work on FEASIBLE, which we have developed in close co-operation with OECD for the Danish Environmental Protection Agency.

Priority

A specified level of service within an environmental sector, e.g. the water sector, costs money. Funds are often limited - whether public or private, domestic or foreign. In other words priorities must be ranked.


Process

The purpose of environmental strategies is to help decision-makers rank initiatives in order of priority. The actual strategy maps possible financial options and funding requirements for alternative service levels, and further ranks the initiatives according to the means available. In this way the strategy determines a future service level which is realistic.

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FEASIBLE

COWI uses the FEASIBLE model for environmental financing strategies. The FEASIBLE model includes water, wastewater and waste, and has a 20-year time scale. The model makes it possible to develop realistic cost scenarios for specified service levels (e.g. upgrading of wastewater plants and establishment of new landfill sites) and to assess the possibilities of granting the necessary financing through allocations from public budgets, user charges, loans and/or gifts.

FEASIBLE is a model-based tool which uses country specific data and projections. Therefore the results are applicable in a country specific context.