The article summarizes the report “Synthesis Report on Building Renovation Barriers in Regulatory Framework in Central Eastern European Countries”. The full report can be accessed here.
Summary
This report identifies barriers to building renovation in Central and Eastern Europe, particularly for energy-poor households, and provides policy recommendations to address these issues.
The report combines results from the analysis of relevant national regulations on multi-apartment buildings’ (MABs) renovation in the context of energy poor households in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). It is based on policy briefs from the CEESEN-BENDER project for Croatia, Estonia, Poland, Romania, and Slovenia, and is complemented by insights from existing research. This report also outlines how to set better targets, what rules and regulations can be improved, and how to implement them more effectively. These suggestions are applicable regionally.
Barriers
The report identifies four types of barriers for energy poverty alleviation in multi-apartment buildings (MABs). These include barriers regarding:
The Performance Targets Set: Older buildings may be more challenging to renovate due to the construction methods originally used; for example, there is often an insufficient understanding of the original design, construction, and history of renovations. As a result, the most ambitious and realistic targets cannot be set because there is not enough understanding of the current condition of the building stock. This leads to a lack of policies encouraging stakeholders to pursue energy-efficient renovations, and inadequate financing for achieving energy renovation goals.
The National Measures that are put in place: As a result of these measures, developers often seek to enhance buildings’ energy efficiency primarily due to financial incentives, without considering how to address energy poverty. Also, local governments lack the expertise to provide adequate technical assistance for energy-efficient renovations, so they cannot help building owners to take advantage of national measures. A major reason for this is that local governments typically lack funding to hire experts for necessary support.
The methods used for Implementation and Monitoring of building performance: As a result, there is inconsistent and insufficient reporting. For example, citizens’ energy initiatives, such as energy communities, are often not acknowledged or remain underdeveloped in some Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Energy poverty often is not addressed during implementation because there is a lack of inclusion of energy poor people when designing support options.
The structure of the Public Calls used to stimulate and support building renovations: Complex administrative requirements and procedural barriers may discourage applicants from seeking funding. Additionally, there is a lack of transparency in the application and approval process, so applicants often do not understand why they have been rejected and are unable to improve future applications for funding. Throughout the region, there is inadequate support for vulnerable groups either due to lack of will, funding or experience in doing so. Public calls also typically do not include renewable energy in support for building renovation, due to the complexity that comes with RE integration. Broadly speaking, there is not enough funding schemes available for energy renovations of MABs.
Policy recommendations
In recognition of the barriers described above, the report outlines four groups of policy recommendations in the policy briefs:
- Enhance support programs for building renovation through targeted allocation and transparent monitoring.
- Prioritize support for multi-apartment buildings housing energy-poor households.
- Enhance monitoring by regularly assessing outcomes and publishing clear progress reports.
- Improve transparency by clearly communicating eligibility criteria, streamlining and publishing application processes ahead of funding calls, and ensuring timely communication of funding decisions.
- Improve access to data on building energy performance and energy poverty.
- Establish a publicly accessible digital database on building energy performance and energy poverty, ensuring consistent data input and output across building and social data, in accordance with data protection regulations.
- Improve conditions for integrating renewable energy into building renovation projects.
- Provide incentives and guidance for integrating renewable energy in renovations.
- Simplify processes by streamlining applications and reporting to encourage participation.
- Ensure that vulnerable and energy-poor households benefit from available opportunities by targeting programs effectively.
- Respect the partnership principle and increase participation.
- Actively engage different stakeholders by involving municipalities, owners, and residents in program design.
- Offer training for municipalities and funding institutions while promoting regional knowledge sharing.
- Inform residents and small businesses about the benefits of renovations and the support available to them.