There is still significant potential to improve energy efficiency in all sectors and levels where measures can be applied. Facing the often cited “energy efficiency gap”, even the profitable potential is not fully exploited. Highlighting and quantifying the additional values of energy efficiency measures and investments considering the multiple non-energy impacts could help closing this gap and facilitate energy-relevant decisions and policy-making. The project "MICAT – Multiple Impacts Calculation Tool" is coordinated by Fraunhofer ISI (DE) together with the European partners IEECP (NL), Wuppertal Institute (DE), WiseEuropa (PL), E3 Modelling (GR), IIASA (AT) and ICLEI EURO (DE). The goal of MICAT is the development of a comprehensive approach to estimate Multiple Impacts of Energy Efficiency. MICAT will enable analyses at three different governance levels (local, national and EU) to address a broad target group and interested actors. This allows simplified analyses to be carried out on the basis of different data and policy scenarios in order to compare and assess the relevance of the multiple impacts. The project thus sets a sound scientific empirical basis for monitoring Multiple Impacts while providing a publicly available and easy usable online tool (MICATool) which has been developed in a co-creational manner with the respective governance levels. The national and local cases for monitoring Multiple Impacts of Energy Efficiency will be developed further in a broad stakeholder and dissemination approach to set a standard for future reporting on Multiple benefits.

"Efficiency First" (E1st) is a fundamental principle applied to policymaking, planning and investment in the energy sector, which is gaining visibility in European energy and climate policy. ENEFIRST will help making the E1st principle more concrete and operational, better understand its relevance for energy demand and supply and its broader impacts across sectors and markets, focussing on the buildings sector. Its main objectives are to define the principle of E1st in practical terms, assess how it has been applied internationally and how it applies to the EU context, to assess the value of applying E1st across different policy areas for buildings’ end-use energy efficiency and to quantify the impacts of increased building energy efficiency for the future energy system in the EU, and to identify key policy areas for the application of E1st and develop policy proposals for its implementation in the EU Buildings Sector. The methodology of ENEFIRST has been designed in light of the novelty of the approach informed by a deep understanding of the current energy policy landscape and the existing practices of energy efficiency policy making and is based in three pillars a) identification of the most relevant policy areas where the E1st principle can be applied to achieve the highest impact in terms of energy system benefits, through screening 5 areas of potential application, modelling three scenarios and five modelling case studies and applying the E1st in three regions in the EU, b) application of the E1st in policy instruments, through assessing the applicability and transferability of international E1st approaches and quantifying the impacts of E1st (through modelling and multi-criteria analysis), and c) application of E1st through the design of policy instruments and the analysis of their application in country case studies. All the foreseen tasks will be carried out with the validation of experts’ groups that formulate the ENEFIRST Stakeholder Community.

The EU 2050 Long-term Strategy develops scenarios for a climate-neutral EU in 2050 that aim at full deployment of low-carbon technologies or assume increased climate awareness of EU citizens translating into lifestyle changes, consumer choices, and a more circular economy. While these scenarios integrate societal trends, further progress is necessary to enhance the empirical basis for such New Societal Trends and their representation in models. New Societal Trends have potentially a large (increasing or decreasing) impact on energy consumption and might lead to cross-sectoral demand shifts that go beyond extrapolation of presently observed trends (continuous trends) and may speed up when they are embraced by larger parts of the society (disruptive trends). Such trends include in particular: digitalisation of the economy and of private lives, Circular Economy and Low-carbon industry, and Shared Economy, which will be the main focus of the present project. The novelty of our project arises from three perspectives: A thematic perspective identifying and quantifying how New Societal Trends affect energy demand, using trend-evolution pathways. A methodological perspective combining qualitative (foresight methods) with quantitative cross-sectoral modelling and exploring how energy demand models are to be improved to represent New Societal Trends. Several well-established models build the core of this project (INVERT/EE-Lab, FORECAST bottom-up model family, PRIMES energy system model, GEM-E3(-FIT)). All of which have been used extensively in the EU context for long-term projections and will be enhanced in this project. Further, policies will be represented in the demand models that influence such trends in the light of the EE1 Principle. Finally, a data perspective enhancing the empirical basis for modelling the impact of new societal trends through exploitation of new data sources (e.g. smart meter data) and empirical data (e.g. on behavioural changes).

EBENTO is aiming to develop an integrated platform for all actors involved in building and renovation sector to provide one-stop-shop to better coordinate and manage Energy Performance Contracting, bringing together the needs from all actors involved in enhancing the building stock. Through EBENTO, citizens will increase their implication in building energy efficiency enhancement, and both public institutions and energy communities will be able to identify potential energy efficiency improvements in residential housing stock, with SMEs and ESCOs support. Furthermore, with EBENTO platform, new business models for optimizing the financial (and, indirectly, other) resources available will be validated: • EBENTO will explore the best financing and collaboration schemes to set up energy services. • EBENTO will study how to enhance current Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) for Demand Side Mechanism (DSM) services and what kind of investment options (grants, loans…) can be implemented to increase the number and impact of energy efficiency projects in the city/region • By using digital tools, EBENTO will gather data from EPCs, financial schemes and energy savings to give to the citizens the required trust for investing in new solutions, and to companies the relevant information to reduce costs and easily replicate the work developed. EBENTO will ensure the exchange of relevant information between the different actors, making the renovation process cost-efficient and easy to operate and replicate. The platform will collect data related to performance contracts and guarantees, devices monitoring, energy savings, building information modelling, users’ opinions and comfort levels, among others.

Unlike the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and large companies, SMEs have less technical human and financial resources to improve their energy efficiency. Barriers have been deeply investigated including lack of awareness, low capital and difficulty to access financing, doubts around actual saving potential and the lack of technical human resources. So, national schemes are finalized to provide them with technical resources such as methodologies, best practices, technologies inventories and subsidies. Some of the schemes introduce mandatory actions (energy analysis) to obtain such subsidies. Nevertheless, national policy schemes have failed to some extent to convince SMEs that the energy audit is something more than a “bureaucratic fulfilment” to obtain a contribution and to push also large companies to take the step from the analysis to the investment. To overcome that, DEESME aims at a) Enabling companies to manage the energy transition by taking profit of multiple benefits and energy management approaches, b) Supporting the development and the implementation of EU policies on energy efficiency in the framework of art. 8 of EED beyond the project by providing national authorities with guidelines proposals and recommendations on how to strengthen the national schemes and c) Enhancing the adoption of the DEESME approach by National Authorities beyond the project timeline through the implementation of institutionalization activities. DEESME will target primarily National Authorities to address their needs from the incumbent policies and to make them aware of the resources available to empower their schemes under art. 8 using the multiple benefits approach. Moreover, it will also target SMEs to assist them to develop and test the technical DEESME solutions by organising information and training initiatives, realising energy audit and implementing energy management systems starting from international standard and adding the multiple benefits energy efficiency approach.