Renovation Wave and Recovery: Videoconference with Energy Commissioner
23 April 2020
On 23 April, UIPI took part, together with other stakeholders of the Europen built environment, to a video conference call with EU Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson. The meeting was meant to exchange on how the upcoming Renovation Wave, notably one of the main actions envisaged in the European Green Deal, could become a key pillar of the economic recovery.
Sharing its support for the initiative, UIPI stressed the hope that it will give a real kick to back wide-scale enabling actions at EU level aimed at boosting the renovation of the different segments of the building stock. At the same time, our association also shed light on the challenges that lie ahead, in particular in time of recession. The EU role should be the one of facilitating and enabling the energy transition.
Facilitating means making the renovation journey easier and smoother for everyone by, among other things:
- the roll-out of free or subsidised advice and package solutions;
- moving from experimentation to massification in the deployment of one-stop-shops, which provide technical, legal, financial support and advice (through EU programmes like ELENA which provide project assistance and/or Project Development Assistance, ERDF, etc.).
On the other side, enabling requires that adequate financial support to scale up renovation and leverage private investment should be put on the table. Evidently, this should be an exclusive task of the EU, but the EU can substantially contribute, notably by:
- ensuring that the sustainable renovation of buildings is included as a current and future investment condition for financial liquidity to Member States;
- incentivising Member States to set up renovation support schemes in their recovery packages and support them during the implementation;
- stepping up private home renovation by actively working with the European Investment Bank to offer financial guarantees for renovation.
Ahead of this call and in preparation of future orientations, the Commissioner’s Cabinet organised a meeting with key stakeholders and collected input for key, short-term EU level actions that could help to boost renovation. In this context, UIPI worked hand in hand with the European Builders Confederation to submit a list of proposals.
