5 stories from 5 countries - results of the FinEERGo-Dom final conference

EKU bulletin presents today the outcomes of the FinEERGo-Dom final conference sharing five lessons from five countries. The project implements a guaranteed financing mechanism to renovate public and private buildings. The project builds on the experience of the Latvian Building Energy Efficiency Facility (LABEEF), the original Building Energy Efficiency (BEEF) Facility deployed successfully in Latvia. LABEEF is based on an existing example providing 20-year Guaranteed Performance contracts to owners through an On-Bill payment scheme.

The conference began by highlighting the importance of building renovation projects and contextualizing the impacts of the project within a bigger picture. Residential buildings constitute 75% of the EU building stock. 85% of buildings in the EU were built before 2000 of which 75% of poor energy performance, while only 11% of existing buildings undergo some level of renovation.

This scale of the problem highlights the enormous investment need, which can not be met only by public financing. The majority of financial resources should come from the private sector to mitigate the current problem of energy efficiency building stock.?

The conference shared an experience and lessons learned from Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, and Poland. Despite the differences in the market structure, legislative framework, as well as focus of the project (some focused more on the public some on residential buildings) the challenges faced were similar across countries. The main barriers for the renovation were:?

1. Insufficient awareness level among the stakeholders
2. Grant-reliance
3. Fragmented housing policies, complex subsidy schemes
4. Ownership structure, low incentives to renovate from the owners
5. Long contracts period for ESCO

To overcome these barriers, project countries tried several strategies that proved effective. The lessons learned include:

1. The crucial role of communication and dissemination. The education of stakeholders about the process and potential benefits play crucial role in the creation of incentive to renovate
2. The need to simplify information about the renovation process. Often the problem is not the absence of information, but rather too much and too complicated information. The step-by-step guides that provide a clear explanation of the process will stimulate the interest in renovation
3. The need to develop trust in the new financing models.
4. The need to incentivise private sector companies. The building renovation still lacks interest from the private finance sector. This can be done through education and stakeholder engagement activities.

Challenges faced by the project countries are shared across the EU. However, the strategies to overcome them, can also be effectively used in different countries with slight adaptation to the national context. Overall, there is enormous potential that building renovation projects can bring to our homes and cities. Often the key to building incentive and empowerment is awareness raising, let it be our first step!