Our Buildings:
Accelerating climate action buildings – strengthening civil society and policymakers in Romania and Bulgaria
The EU legislative package “Clean Energy for All Europeans” has brought changes about the way MS need to design their Long-Term Renovation Strategies for a net-zero carbon building stock by 2050. At the same time, local authorities face multiple challenges in the design and implementation of energy efficiency plans and projects. Low involvement of local authorities in national planning, lack of opportunities to influence national strategies and programmes, lack of resources to implement local policies, insufficient financial and technical expertise are just some of the challenges that apply to most European countries. They are particularly strong in the target countries of the project — Bulgaria and Romania, which have a similar building stock characterised by multi-family residential buildings in poor condition and inefficient individual houses contributing to high energy costs, air pollution and increased CO2 emissions.
The aim of the project was to overcome these barriers by developing capacity for knowledge transfer, enabling municipalities and civil society to implement their building renovation strategies, making the most effective use of all possible sources of funding to achieve optimal energy savings. The project supported effective governance, trained local experts and enabled civil society and national stakeholders to actively contribute to the continuous improvement of public building conditions, clearly aware that this is one of the most successful approaches to stimulate economic growth and retain young people in cities. A number of activities were carried out on the ground in the participating cities: trainings of municipal professionals, discussions with stakeholders, targeted workshops to report on progress, and finally comparative analysis of project results were presented at national level. Thanks to the project, 5 municipalities in Bulgaria have started implementing a working municipal information system for data collection and management of energy consumption in buildings.
Project outcomes can be found hereafter:
Long-term building renovation strategies as key tools for local development
EU energy performance of buildings directive – guidance for public officers. Navigating new requirements for renovation strategies
Information brochures of the participating municipalities:
More information at: www.euki.de
Project partners: European Building Performance Institute (BPIE), www.bpie.eu
Romanian Network of Energy Cities, www.oer.ro.
This project is part of the European Climate Initiative (EUKI). EUKI is a project financing instrument by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The EUKI competition for project ideas is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH. It is the overarching goal of the EUKI to foster climate cooperation within the European Union (EU) in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. For more information, visit: www.euki.de