The development and implementation of national renovation strategies by EU Member States is required by the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). Article 4 of the Directive required national governments to present a first version of their renovation strategy to the European Commission in April 2014, and that this strategy be updated every three years.

This report assesses the compliance of the five countries’ updated renovation strategies with the EED by comparing them with the requirements set out in the Directive and the guidance provided for the development of National Energy Efficiency Action Plans (NEEAPs). The review also investigates approaches to tackling barriers to renovation of public buildings, support for municipalities, and other interesting areas including funding and financing support and engagement with stakeholders.

The analysis shows that there is a mixed picture in terms of compliance across the five strategies. The strategies have improved in some areas and new measures have been put in place: Romania has introduced mandatory local energy planning for towns with more than 5,000 inhabitants; Germany introduced tailored Renovation Roadmaps; Croatia strengthened the administrative capacity to better tackle renovation of multi-family buildings; Slovenia introduced the Local Energy Concept tool; Bulgaria stated the intention to shift from 100% grants to fund renovation of residential buildings.

However, little has been done to significantly improve the 2014 strategies and consequently increase rate and quality of renovation at a pace that would significantly contribute to the achievement of the EU 2030 targets and the Paris commitment.

The analysis was done within the framework of the EU-funded project, EmBuild.

To know more about EmBuild results, you can check out the EmBuild Navigator.