The past three years have been marked by unprecedented shocks and stresses for the European community. Both the devastating pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have put our homes in the spotlight: the importance of energy efficient homes to protect vulnerable groups from energy price shocks and to provide healthy as well as comfortable living environments has never been more evident. 

The centrality of energy renovations, to enhance energy security and reach climate goals, is being recognised at all levels of governance. Amongst others, the European Green Deal, which calls for a Renovation Wave in Europe, recent revisions to key Directives such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the inclusion of the construction sector in the European Emissions Trading Scheme are a testament to the EU’s commitment to operationalising the “Energy Efficiency First” principle and accelerating the decarbonisation of the built environment. At national level, Member States have been drawing up and operationalising Long-Term Renovation Strategies since 2014, endeavoring to create enabling conditions for the significant increase in deep renovation rates.

Against the backdrop of much-needed overarching goals, policies and initiatives, it is important to note that actual on-the-ground energy renovation takes place at the local level. Bolstered by enabling frameworks, local governments and communities - together with an ecosystem of actors in the renovation market value chain - are the principle actors that drive the translation of ambition into action. Yet, whilst EU and national efforts are setting the right trajectory, local deep renovation rates remain far below those that are needed for Europe to become climate-neutral by 2050.

Responding to the urgent need to decarbonise the EU’s building stock, the European Secretariat of the local government network ICLEI is engaged in a range of EU-funded projects that are pioneering and mainstreaming innovative solutions to drive energy renovation activity and sustainable construction processes at the local level. A highly promising approach in the renovation domain is the establishment of One-Stop-Shops (OSS) or Citizen Hubs in cities and regions, which serve to [1] raise the awareness of local populations about the benefits of energy renovations, [2] provide home owners with practical guidance on renovation options, [3] access financing and subsidy schemes and [4] connect customers with qualified contractors.

The project Save the Homes, which has received Horizon 2020 funding, recently produced a range of helpful guidance documents, to help local governments establish and operate Citizen Hubs. These outputs build on the experience of setting up or supporting hubs in the ICLEI Member Cities of Rotterdam and Valencia. Furthermore, replication is currently being tested in ICLEI Member City Ljubljana as well as the City of Sant Cugat. Documents to support the establishment and running of Citizen Hubs by local governments as well as other partners include a protocol for supply side community building and network creation, a Citizen Hub model agreement (for monitoring and business model adjustments), an implementation guide (for front and back office OSS functions) and a mapping of the customer journey, which can serve as a template for future hubs (see infographic below). Coming up, is the publication of an overall replication guideline and an exploitation plan.

Building on the learnings of the project, ICLEI Europe is co-organising three national workshops in Slovenia (on 18 May in Ljubljana), Spain, and the Netherlands, to share knowledge and open a discussion amongst local government representatives. A limited number of open spaces are available for local government representatives from the above-mentioned countries to join the workshops. More information (including registration form) is available on the Slovenian workshop event page. Information on the other two workshop will be made available on the event calendar of ICLEI Europe.

Looking forward, it is clear that energy renovations must remain a central climate action area for all levels of government across Europe. Key challenges such as supply and demand fragmentation, long-term funding or sustainable business models for Citizen Hubs will undoubtedly require tailored responses. Whilst the pathway to decarbonising Europe’s building stock remains a rocky one, local good practices and forward-looking national and EU enabling efforts continue to emerge. ICLEI Europe, together with international knowledge partners and ambitious local governments such as Rotterdam and Valencia, will continue to innovate in the space, to refine existing approaches and develop new solutions to enact sustainability transformations in the built environment.