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

The (much) higher use of loans and guarantees foreseen in the MFF post-2020 will produce significant changes in the management model of EU funding, and could even herald a structural evolution in the European project as a whole, write Francesco Molica and Nikos Lampropoulos.

This ERDF-funded project will attempt to transform the ruins of an old coal mining site by reusing the original building materials to construct a new administrative centre for the region.

The aim of the project is to make use of the resources left in the ruins and old buildings of a coal mine in Hainaut, Belgium to feed into the construction of a new administrative block on the same site. Materials will either be reused in their original function or in other ways so as to give them a new lease of life rather than waste them.

A high-level group of financial experts has advised European regulators to encourage a more favourable treatment for energy saving loans and mortgages, in a move that could unlock billions in lending for green building renovation programmes across Europe.

The EU’s high-level group on sustainable finance issued its final report to the European Commission on Wednesday (31 January), making recommendations to unlock private investments in renewables and energy savings.

Nearly three-quarters of the EU’s 2030 clean energy investment gap – estimated at around €130 billion per year – is accounted for by energy efficiency in buildings, most of which is concentrated in central and east European countries, the report says.

The investment case for low-carbon energy is strong: increased economic growth and jobs, reduced transition risks, and the most cost-effective pathway to realising the goals of the Paris Agreement. Why, then, are EU energy ministers so reluctant to provide the legislative framework required to shift the trillions? writes Stephanie Pfeifer.