A London-based bank is giving a €10 million (£8.4m) loan to Ukraine for installing energy efficiency measures in public buildings.

The pilot scheme in the city of Dnipropetrovsk will use the cash to fund energy performance contracts (EPCs) through private companies and banks.

Dnipropetrovsk is Ukraine’s fourth largest city and has more than 700 public buildings.

It will be the first municipality in the nation to test EPCs, which are partnerships between the customer and the company to improve the energy efficiency of a property. Contracts guarantee the measures will generate enough savings to pay for the project.

The funding pot could be increased to €20 million (£16.9m) in the future.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is the largest financial investor in Ukraine and committed more than €8.7 billion (£7.3bn) up to November this year.

Earlier this year UK Government-backed research showed installing energy efficiency measures could help boost property prices.