Building Decarbonisation: Integrated Renovation Programmes and Local Heating and Cooling Plans

The European Union has set very ambitious energy and climate goals, including the decarbonization of the building stock by 2050. For achieving these goals Member States are obliged to develop and submit National Energy and Climate Integrated Plans (NECPS) and Long-Term Renovation Strategies for improving the energy efficiency and retrofitting of the building stock. The recently adopted Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) also foresees for cities of minimum 45,000 inhabitants to develop local cooling and heating plans. Adding to this, the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) also include a mandatory percentage of renewable energy in these local heating and cooling plans.

This partnership proposes to address decarbonisation of building through a strategic integrated approach, going beyond individual buildings and encouraging the district/neighbourhood approach and make full use of the provisions in the revised directives. Local heating and cooling plans are among the important steps towards decarbonisation of buildings. This approach could be linked with development of district heating, the development of energy communities and energy sharing and explore the possibilities of the Electricity Market Design reform. To put these objectives in practice, it is important to develop strategies and plans at the local level.

The Call for Partners will be open from 28 August to 2 October, leaving interested partners enough time to apply after the summer period.

An online applicant seminar will take place on 5 September where interested stakeholders will get more information about the application process as well as what to expect from a Thematic Partnership within the Urban Agenda for the EU.

Once the call is closed, the applications are carefully assessed by the EAA experts taking into consideration the diversity of stakeholders, the geographical location in Europe and the variety of size of urban authorities. Once approved by the DGUM in the November 2024, the Thematic Partnerships on Building Decarbonisation: Integrated Renovation Programmes and Local Heating and Cooling Plans will be launched and ready to kick-off in early 2025.  

Before a Thematic Partnership within the Urban Agenda for the EU can be established, an Ex-Ante Assessment report of the theme must be developed. The EAA, is an evidence-based research report, written by an external experts which explores the relevance and necessity of the theme and defines the scope of the potential partnership. What exists and what has already been done on these themes? What are the challenges, the gaps and the opportunities? Once the report is finalised, it must be presented to the Directors General Meeting on Urban Matters (DGUM) which gathers representatives from the European Commission, Member States, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, and relevant urban networks and umbrella organisations. On 26 June 2024 this meeting was organised and the Ex-Ante Assessment was successfully endorsed.