Currently, buildings are responsible for 40 % of the energy demand and 36% of the CO2 emissions in Europe. Decarbonisation of existing buildings plays a key role in order to reach the overall climate protection targets. However, current renovation rates lie in the order of 1%. Heat pumps are a key technology in bringing renewable shares into heat supply of buildings; especially their combination with onsite renewable electricity production e.g. by PV allows to bring high renewable shares. Their current installation in existing multi-apartment buildings is however still marginal. The proposed technological solution is based on decentralized heat pumps, in such a way that it results an easy-to-install solution for installers, low-intrusive for the occupants and easily adaptable to a large number of different building situations. This is flanked by developing near-zero planning, implementation and operation processes, in order to facilitate the work during the planning phase, ensure a high-quality installation and effective operation, and reduce the efforts and costs within the whole retrofitting project. The challenge of cost-competitiveness is addressed by developing new financial and business models. Bringing new players (such as financial experts) and financing models to the renovation market is expected to bring the needed paradigm change and boost investments in the residential retrofitting sector. Dissemination of measured performance and system characteristics from HAPPENING will be one of the key results of the project. Through 3 demo sites (Spain, Italy and Austria), the project will demonstrate a highly versatile, scalable and replicable solution package for buildings energy system retrofitting allowing 70-75% of renewable energy fraction, 30-50% of PE and GHG savings, reduction of planning time by 50% and installation/operation time by 30% and payback time for ESCOs and investors of less than 8 years, compared to best available solution existing today.

iBRoad2EPC represents the next step in energy performance assessment schemes and certification practices, promoting and showcasing the integration of Building Renovation Passport elements into EPC schemes. Building on the results of the iBRoad project (2017-2020) which developed, tested and delivered a model for the Building Renovation Passport supporting single-family home-owners with personalised advice to facilitate stepwise deep renovation, iBRoad2EPC aims to bridge the Building Renovation Passport with the EPC, and expand, improve and broaden their format and joint scope to consider additional features and become applicable also to multi-family and public buildings. The aim is to improve reliability, usefulness and effectiveness, thereby establishing the next generation of EPCs that will support Europe's decarbonisation ambitions while improving conditions for building occupants. This will be done by clustering the project’s activities around four main pillars: (1) assess the needs, potential and practicability of merging the EPC with the Building Renovation Passport; (2) adapt the iBRoad concept to become part of EPCs; (3) test and evaluate the applicability of iBRoad2EPC in six countries (Bulgaria, Greece, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain), including training for energy auditors and EPC issuers and (4) facilitate the adoption and exploitation of the iBRoad2EPC model across Europe. Implementing authorities in the six countries will be directly involved in the process of conceptualisation, development and testing of iBRoad2EPC to become an integral part of existing relevant schemes. Targeted communication, dissemination and exploitation activities at national and European level will support further acceptance and uptake. The project will leverage existing knowledge from other projects to expand EPC features and contribute back policy proposals as well as training and capacity building modules.

MAKING-CITY is a large-scale demonstration project aiming at the development of new integrated strategies to address the urban energy system transformation towards low carbon cities, with the positive energy district (PED) approach as the core of the urban energy transition pathway. The project will be intensively focused on achieving evidences about the actual potential of the PED concept, as foundation of a high efficient and sustainable route to progress beyond the current urban transformation roadmaps. Although in principle a PED approach seems a solid and ambitious strategy, this should be complemented with long term urban planning to ensure upscaling and fostering higher impacts. Currently city energy plans are starting to be designed with a 2030 horizon, according to the standard city commitments, as for instance those reflected in the SECAPs and other more specific city plans. Project will address methodologies to support cities in their long term urban planning towards an adequate energy transition, paving the way of the planning, implementation and up-scaling process. Cities of Groningen (Netherlands) and Oulu (Finland) will act as lighthouses. These cities are currently working intensively in ambitious transformation planning whose approaches fit perfectly with the project objectives. Both have committed to deploy a demonstration of at least one positive energy district. León (Spain), Bassano del Grappa (Italy), Kadiköy (Turkey), Poprad (Slovakia), Vidin (Bulgaria) and Lublin (Poland) will be the follower cities. All of them have assumed a huge commitment to develop a solid execution project of Positive Energy District and foster high level of replication of the solutions demonstrated in Groningen and Oulu.

In extension of the work of the Sustainable Energy Investment Forums, AÚNA proposes to create in Spain a permanent, multilevel, multilateral discussion FORUM, fully focused on sustainable building financing, for the effective and wide implementation of the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings initiative, with the following differential characteristics: • From the building renovation sector, with a systemic approach led by Green Building Council España (GBCe) • Based on GBCe’s knowledge in the field, from the GTR Reports to the national and international coordination of stakeholders’ collaborative processes of H2020 BUILD UPON projects, and the launching in Spain of the green mortgages initiative EeMap, which put GBCe in a unique position • Able to bridge the gap between renovation and financing, by the incorporation at a leading discussion level of the most advanced players on all the interrelated aspects of financing, facilitated by the present openness of the financial world • Oriented to a shared understanding, to draw significant advances in terms of ideas, to be incorporated by the stakeholders to their practices and policies • Integrally based on the financial and stakeholders platforms aspects of the Commission Recommendation on Building Renovation • Totally aligned with the Spanish Long Term Renovation Strategy, of which it becomes a key stream in continuation of the work already started, with full support from the Interministerial LTRS group of Spain (ERESEE) • Four rounds of growing practical definition and outreach, with clearly defined progress indicators: a) preparatory; discussion FORUM definition and planning, b) extension to the wide renovation sector, c) citizenship outreach and d) shared contribution to the Spanish NECP and the ERESEE 2023 • Liaising with the SEIF organization and other relevant European Commission’s initiatives (e.g. Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG), Project Development Assistance (PDA) facilities, the Covenant of Mayors/SECAP initiatives”), international dimension through the European Network of GBCs, the Smart Cities and Communities (Lighthouse) network, and other consortium member networks

BUILD UPON: Empower stakeholders to assist public authorities. 1. Provide large-scale capacity building or engagement activities: The key objective is to engage and empower a ‘critical mass’ of over 1,000 stakeholders with the process of defining and implementing their long-term national renovation strategy (Article 4, Energy Efficiency Directive). Process carried out by an important organisational innovation, ‘Green Building Councils’ (GBCs), in BG,CZ,ES, HR, IT, IE, FI, LV, RO, SE, SI, SK and TR. GBCs are multi-stakeholder platforms, formalising a ‘Regional Action Network’ of connected actors who will ensure the continuation of the activities beyond the project’s duration. 2. Target specific actors among a wide spectrum of stakeholders: The renovation stakeholder ecosystem will be mapped across the Project countries, to understand precisely which organisations will be needed to define and implement Article 4 and how this system functions. BUILD UPON has received over 100 letters of support across all its target groups. 3. Demonstrate a strong European added value: The complex landscape of renovation initiatives (both public policy and market driven) will be compressed in a living ‘RenoWiki’ resource, to enable stakeholder understanding and dialogue, and ensure all stakeholders are ‘on the same page’. The stakeholder ‘community’ will be developed through a series of nearly 80 workshops across the region at local, national and European level. These will explore collaborative and solution focused working methods to deliver the stakeholder buy-in required by government to define and implement ambitious and viable Article 4 strategies. Experts involved with the design and management of identified best practice renovation initiatives will help stakeholders assess feasibility for implementing these in other countries, to move best practice sharing beyond information to action, and an incubator for new concepts will help launch further implementation orientated projects.