"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 RED, the EED and the EPBD (recast) require member states to develop ambitious policies for sustainable heating and cooling. The objective of this project is to assist policy makers at the local, regional, national and EU-level in developing and implementing integrated, effective and efficient policy strategies achieving a fast and strong penetration of RES and EE in heating and cooling. This will include the analysis of cross-sectoral effects between RES and EE measures in industry, buildings and DHC as well as the link to the electricity system. The core part of the proposal is the communication and capacity building process with policy makers, administrative staff and other stakeholders at the local, regional and national level including the set up of policy group meetings, expert consultations, experience sharing and capacity building workshops as well as webinars. The process will focus on 6 target countries and regions. Together with the authorities heating and cooling strategies will be developed through a profound analysis of their specific situation including barriers & drivers and a model based assessment of policy intervention in scenarios up to 2050. progRESsHEAT will assist national policy makers in implementing the policies published in the national heating and cooling plans in an effective and efficient way by the means of a model-based quantitative impact assessment of local, regional and national policies up to 2050. Data, scenarios and recommendations will be provided for the target countries. Dissemination activities will transfer results to other countries and the EU-level. Policy makers and other stakeholders will be strongly involved in the process, learn from the experience in other regions and gain deep understanding of the impact of policy instruments and their specific design. This will provide the ground for favourable, stable conditions for increasing the efficiency and the penetration of renewable heating and cooling in Europe.

The overarching objective of the PATH2LC project is to support policy makers and public authorities at local level in the transition process towards a low carbon society. Through a holistic network approach, stakeholders in public authorities are linked among municipalities in order to enable peer-to-peer learning and increase the engagement in energy and climate transition. The network approach shall also accelerate the implementation of Sustainable Energy (and Climate) Action Plan (SE(C)AP) measures. The PATH2LC project will foster the exchange of existing knowledge and experiences among municipalities, enhance coordination among different administrative bodies within the municipalities and improve cooperation with local stakeholders and civil society. It will furthermore provide stakeholders in public authorities with the necessary planning and monitoring tools to implement transition roadmaps. The following five existing networks are the starting point of the project: UCSA - Joint Office for Environmental Sustainability (Italy), Sustainable City Network (Greece), OesteSustentável (Portugal), Cities Northern Netherlands (NL), Rhône Network (FR). They benefit from a well-established network process of the so-called learning energy efficiency networks (LEEN), supplemented with in-depth capacity building and support regarding heating and cooling topics. Due to the international composition of the networks, cross-country experiences can be shared. The project is accompanied by a socio-scientific evaluation in order to make the results transferable to other municipalities as well as by a dissemination strategy in order to make network activities visible.

Research suggests that the industrial and service sectors, which account for 40% of final energy consumption in the EU, offer substantial potential for cost-effective energy savings. However, an under-investment in energy-efficiency—an “energy-efficiency gap”—is observed in all countries due to the persistent existence of barriers. One key barrier is that companies do not consider energy use as a contributor to their competitive advantage. As a result, investments in energy efficiency are neglected compared to other investments. On the other hand, many frequently observed multiple benefits (MBs) of energy efficiency– such as improved product quality, higher flexibility, reduced production time, reduced production loss, increased safety, reduced operational, commercial, legal or climate change risks - represent important core business benefits for companies. Thus, MBs enhance both the strategic character and financial attractiveness of energy efficiency projects in companies. M-BENEFITS aims at including the MBs of energy efficiency in investment decisions of companies and thereby substantially increasing the deployment of cost-effective energy saving potentials. It contributes to the work programme by delivering best-practice examples, tools and trainings on the importance of MBs for investment decisions in companies, thereby addressing all relevant decision-makers. M-BENEFITS will -create a harmonised approach to include the MBs of energy efficiency in investment decisions of companies, -collect data and develop case studies throughout the industrial and service sectors to build-up evidence base and know-how on the importance of MBs for companies, -develop evaluation, communication and training tools for companies to identify and quantify MBs in energy efficiency projects and to communicate them in energy, operational and strategic terms, -provide tailor-made ways for trainings inside and outside the company and for communication on MBs to relevant stakeholders.