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 upgrades, funding sustainability/continuity, scalability and outreach to hard-to-reach groups.

Improving the energy performance of buildings is an important part of reaching the EU’'s climate, energy and air pollution targets, but requires an acceleration in renovation rates. This briefing identifies behavioural factors that influence decisions on renovation investment. It also explores how understanding these factors can inform the design of policies that more effectively encourage the renovation of residential buildings, contributing to achieving climate neutrality.

This book provides detailed information on how to set up Deep Energy Retrofits (DERs) in public buildings, and shares in-depth insights into the current status of the major technologies, strategies and practical best practice examples of how to cost-effectively combine them. Case studies from Europe are analyzed with respect to energy use before and after renovation, reasons for undertaking the renovation, co-benefits achieved, resulting cost-effectiveness, and the business models employed. The building sector holds the potential for tremendous improvements in terms of energy efficiency and reducing carbon emissions, and energy retrofits to the existing building stock represent a significant opportunity in the transition to a low-carbon future. Moreover, investing in highly efficient building materials and systems can replace long-term energy imports, contribute to cost cutting, and create a wealth of new jobs. Yet, while the technologies needed in order to improve energy efficiency are readily available, significant progress has not yet been made, and “best practices” for implementing building technologies and renewable energy sources are still relegated to small “niche” applications. Offering essential information on Deep Energy Retrofits, the book offers a valuable asset for architects, public authorities, project developers, and engineers alike.

Th Accelerating the diffusion of energy-efficient renovations is a key policy lever in order to reduce the environmental impact of buildings. This book provides a broad, systemic perspective on the causes of the diffusion of energy-efficient renovations in Switzerland and policy recommendations for accelerating the diffusion process. Specifically, the book provides a description of the societal problem situation within which the diffusion process takes place and an analysis of the actors involved. It provides a detailed explanation of the causes of the diffusion process that synthesizes insights from the engineering, economics, marketing, sociology, communication studies and political science literature. It employs the System Dynamics methodology to simulate the diffusion process and analyze policy levers. The book proposes two regulations and a sketch of a business model as particularly promising public policy interventions. It concludes with an outline of a generic theory of the diffusion of sustainable technologies.

The third installment of the ‘European Public Investment Outlook’ series is an important and timely publication that draws together recent analyses to recommend significant increases in public investment in green ventures. Compelling data from key economists affiliated with international organizations like the International Monetary Fund, European Investment Bank and the European Commission, as well as academic departments and policy institutes are a clarion call for green investment to boost the economy and put the planet on a sustainable path. Like its predecessors, the book presents the issues in a lucid and navigable manner. Part I explores the EU’s current levels of green public investment, as well as the challenges ahead in achieving net zero carbon emissions after years of decreasing funding and the obstacles presented by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The public investment trends of France, Germany, Italy and Spain are systematically evaluated, as well as the REPowerEU policy – accelerated in Spring 2022 – to move away from Russia’s supply of fossil fuels. Part II focuses on the investment needed for green transition; the important economic and fiscal effects and benefits this would bring; and the reality of what is required before 2030 to achieve the EU’s carbon-neutral targets by 2050. Greening Europe is essential reading for economists, environmentalists, and policymakers. It should also be of interest to anyone who wants to understand the cost implications of the ‘carbon-neutral’ policies that governments have promised, and the urgent need to change our approach towards energy usage.

With the right set of policy tools, it is generally accepted that governments can play a crucial role in promoting energy efficiency and leveraging more investments in the building sector, especially in the existing stock. Indeed there is a wide range of policies at EU level which require Member States to set a number of regulatory, informative and economic measures with the aim to improve the energy performance of buildings. What is clear is that the existing policy mix needs to be reviewed as experience shows that actual energy efficiency investments in this segment of the building stock neither meet the scale nor the quality aligned with its overall potential. For now, economic instruments appear to dominate the policy framework for existing buildings, while the need for more market action and enhanced private sector involvement is increasingly highlighted as this offers the only sustainable route for scaling up existing efforts. This report deals with the importance of existing economic instruments in leveraging energy efficiency investments in buildings, examines their effectiveness in delivering energy savings as well as relation with other policy types. Based on experiences drawn from current practices, it increases our understanding of the type, scope and mix of economic instruments best suited to tackle demand-side energy use in existing buildings. The report also identifies innovative financing mechanisms and proposes other measures beyond current practices, which can further stimulate the market and offer more scalable solutions.