Accelerating energy renovation investments in buildings

At today's renovation rate of around 1% of buildings per year, a timely transition of the EU building sector towards climate-neutral levels by 2050 cannot be ensured. To accelerate energy efficiency investments in this area, the European Commission has intensified its efforts in recent years, with specific calls to strengthen the existing financial framework, increase funding levels, diversify types of financial models and explore new supporting mechanisms. Various private and public financial and fiscal mechanisms for energy renovations in buildings are currently available in Europe in the form of non-repayable rewards, debt financing, equity financing, etc. This report provides a country-by-country overview of the most important public schemes identified across the EU, and investigates new private financial products in place to stimulate more energy efficiency investments in residential, commercial and public buildings. Good practices are identified based on the criteria of impact, cost effectiveness, ambition level of energy efficiency upgrade, funding sustainability/continuity, scalability and outreach to hard-to-reach groups.