Energy Transition in Europe | www.energy-cities.eu

Achieving the UK’s goal of reaching ​‘net zero’ emissions by 2050 will require far-reaching changes to transform the UK economy and put it on a more sustainable path. Greening the finance system is a key part of this transition. While aligning the private financial sector with the UK’s climate goals is an urgent priority, the scale and speed of the transition means that public finance must also lead by example.

"The platform – launching this year – aims to empower 1 billion people with distributed renewable energy (DRE). This is renewable energy generated from sources such as mini-grid and off-grid solutions, located near the point of use, rather than centralized sources like power plants," Ikea Foundation said in a statement.

This concerns the allotment of land for affordable housing
The Swedish city of Malmö might have found a way out of plaguing housing shortages with the development of a new model called Mallbo. This is an abbreviation of Malmö Allemansrätt Boende (Malmö Public Law Housing) and according to authorities, it represents both a model and a tool that will allow achieving the goal of a more sustainable housing market.

The EBRD has approved a new EUR 2 million credit line for financing investments in household energy efficiency in Kosovo*.

Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) is a well-tested and successful tool that has been helping building owners reach their energy and climate targets more quickly than with traditional implementation of energy saving measures. 

Still there is potential for more use of EPC to reach unrealised saving potential in public sector.

To promote the use of EPC, this guide introduces an improved implementation model based on the present market situation and experiences in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 

The main novelty aspect being contract-based partnership during the analysis phase of EPC projects.
Still there is potential for more use of EPC to reach unrealised saving potential in public sector.
To promote the use of EPC, this guide introduces an improved implementation model based on the present market situation and experiences in Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The main novelty aspect being contract-based partnership during the analysis phase of EPC projects.

Municipal authorities across the EU are struggling to navigate through the Covid-19 pandemic, with many having to rely upon EU cohesion fund to maintain public services.
Our new study, written by three experts at the European Policies Research Centre Delft, ‘Community Support? Municipalities’ use of EU cohesion funds in response to Covid-19: current experience and lessons for the future’ looks in details how regional authorities and municipalities have had to battle against rising expenditure amidst falling tax revenue, and using cohesion fund to plug the gaps in public services when national governments have been unable to provide regional help and financial assistance.
The authors looked at six specific case studies – Lanarca in Cyprus, Corsica, Rotterdam, Slovenia and the German-Polish cross-border region of Frankfurt an der Oder/Słubice – and asked what questions can be learned from the successes and failures in the organisational and distribution of cohesion funds in the various EU’s crisis support packages,
How efficient and accessible are EU crisis measure like CRII+ and REACT-EU for municipalities? What lessons can be learned for EU policy, what recommendations can be given to Member States, regions and the local level? What are implications more broadly for EU regional cohesion policy?

While climate impacts are already materializing, the regulators urge financial institutions to account for their exposure to “physical climate risks” when taking decisions, and to disclose how they do so. This represents a true challenge for financial institutions, in terms of expertise and risk management tools.
The ClimINVEST European project organized a direct collaboration between climate experts and financial institutions across Europe to identify and address the challenges of physical climate risk integration in finance. It results in publicly available resources that can be accessed through the figure below.

The Beacon is a quarterly newsletter with stories, news and developments on financial instruments in the context of Cohesion Policy. The winter edition, published last week, features among other things a significant study on residential energy efficiency financial instruments in Lithuania, two new videos on the combination of grants and financial instruments, as well as a new podcast episode on how ESIF Financial instruments support the development of the Venture Capital/Private Equity ecosystem in Greece.

Investing in energy efficiency and renewable energy has never been so rewarding and so easy. The new 'Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings' programme has been launched, featuring a streamlined application procedure for all funding – including large amounts.

The Federal Government wants to achieve these savings primarily through the 'Federal Funding for Efficient Buildings' (Bundesförderung für effiziente Gebäude – BEG) (in German only) programme, which was launched on 1 January 2021 and forms a core element of the 2030 Climate Action Programme (in German only) . The funding is to give a powerful boost to the energy transition in the buildings sector and replaces previous programmes to promote energy efficiency and renewable energy in this segment. These include the successful 'CO2 Building Modernisation Programme' (implemented as the KfW 'Energy-efficient Construction and Refurbishment' programme) and the 'Market Incentive Programme' to promote the use of renewables for heating – applications for which hit a record high (in German only) in 2020.

This report analyses how the 25 largest European banks approach five critical climate and biodiversity-related themes:

• Net-zero targets and alignment
• High-carbon disclosures
• Sector policies (fossil fuels, shipping, biomass)
• Biodiversity
• Executive remuneration

Art and culture are the most promising avenues to revitalize cities and neighborhoods. But to succeed as a driving force for lasting and meaningful area development, what do incubators, cultural houses and creative hubs need? In a virtual meet-up with twenty fellow city makers, Rinske identifies tools that city makers, governments and developers can use to help their cities thrive .
The need for ‘money to play with’, the importance of new business models and the need to ‘cast’ the ultimate mix of functions and users. Invite twenty city makers to share their thoughts in a virtual conference, and they’ll give you an abundance of tips on nurturing successful cultural and creative hubs. Because what makes one space a success from day one, while another fails to get off the ground? What are the do’s and don’ts of success?

Are we building back better? Track climate and energy focused analysis of COVID-19 recovery packages, looking at support for fossil fuels and clean energy.

The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has unanimously adopted an opinion on the Renovation Wave , the EU's plan to upgrade the energy performance of Europe's building stock. Accounting for 40% of Europe's energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG), the renovation of buildings is key for the EU to reach climate neutrality by 2050. Cities and regions call for a revision of state aid schemes, more flexible budget rules to maximise investments and renovations, subnational targets for the renovation of buildings and the integration of renewable energy sources in renovation projects.

This document aims at briefly presenting benefits for a local authority to launch a process of assessing its budget under the prism of the climate, and the approach to be set up. It is intended for elected officials, service managers and anyone wishing to quickly familiarize themselves with this tool.
It is accompanied by a methodological guide, a technical appendix for the climate change mitigation component and a technical appendix for the climate change adaptation component (both also in French). These documents are available free of charge to all communities that would like to undertake a climate assessment of their budget.
TOC :
- Climate budget assessment in a nutshell
- Why to analyze budget through the prism of climate?
- In concrete terms, what is the recommended approach?
- Seizing the results
- Some answers to frequently asked questions
Document available in French only

The City Council’s Municipal Institute for Urban Landscape and Quality of Life (IMPUQV) is offering subsidies to help protect and improve the urban landscape. With 1.3 million euros available, the funding is aimed at promoting the recovery of heritage while taking into account environmental sustainability and backing small commerce. In this respect, the call includes subsidies for commercial establishments carrying out work on their premises, which are a key part of Barcelona’s urban landscape. At the same time, the subsides include specific sections for protected historical premises and those without protection.

The Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) is an EU initiative incentivising cities to test new solutions to urban challenges. It is funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) with a total budget of €372 million during 2014-2020 and with a maximum contribution of €5 million per project.
The present study constitutes the first external assessment of the UIA while the implementation of the initiative is ongoing. Its findings must thus be seen as preliminary and not capturing a full impact that only an ex-post evaluation will be able to measure, as from 2024 at the earliest.
The assessment study evaluated the effectiveness, efficiency, relevance, coherence and EU added value of the UIA. It identified a range of innovations tested including the use of new techniques, social innovation, service delivery innovations, financial innovations and governance innovations.

Spain has auctioned a total of 3 GW of renewable energy capacity under the country’s new auction design, the Contracts-for-Difference (CfD) model, resulting in the lowest ever price for new onshore wind energy in Europe, of EUR 20 per MWh, according to WindEurope.

The CfD model brings the lowest prices for renewables because it minimizes the financing costs of new projects. CfDs are cheap for governments, as governments get paid back as well as paying out. In this way, citizens win twice, both as consumers and taxpayers, according to WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson.