Integrated services for clean energy transition in buildings and businesses

Proposals should present the concrete results which will be delivered by the activities, and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts. This demonstration should include a detailed analysis of the starting point and a set of well-substantiated assumptions, and establish clear causality links between the results and the expected impacts.

Proposals submitted under this topic should demonstrate how they will contribute to:

• Integrated services implemented, operational and tested at the end of the action. Projects should necessarily set up and launch the services on a pilot phase, although upscale may happen after project completion.
• Strong and trustworthy partnerships with local actors (e.g. SMEs, architects, engineers, ESCOs, financial institutions, chambers of commerce, professional federations and networks, local and regional authorities, energy agencies, NGOs).
• Prospect of economically viable business models, in the medium to long term running without the need for public subsidies to cover running costs.
• Increased awareness and trust of end-users through clear accountability, quality assurance and/or dedicated consumer protection mechanisms.
• Data and guidance made publicly available in order to facilitate replication of the approach by other market actors. Evidence that the value of the services offered is recognised by the market.

Proposals should quantify their results and impacts using the indicators provided for the topic, when they are relevant for the proposed activities. They should also propose indicators which are specific to the proposed activities. Proposals are not expected to address all the listed impacts and indicators. The results and impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after the end of the project.

The indicators for this topic include (depending on the scope):

• Number of initial contacts (households, local authorities, private companies) made by the integrated service provider.
• Number of investment projects (number of housing units/number of public or private tertiary buildings (and floor area)/number of investment projects of private businesses) effectively implemented.
• Average conversion rate of initial contacts into effective investments, demonstrating the value of the services offered.
• Investments in building energy renovation triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro).
• Average percentage of energy savings per investment project.

Proposals should also quantify their impacts related to the following common indicators for the LIFE Clean Energy Transition subprogramme:

• Investments in sustainable energy (energy efficiency and renewables) triggered by the project (cumulative, in million Euro) – already covered as topic-specific indicators, see above.
• Primary energy savings triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
• Renewable energy generation triggered by the project (in GWh/year).
• Reduction of greenhouse gases emissions (in tCO₂eq/year) and/or air pollutants.

As highlighted in the "Renovation Wave" initiative of the European Green Deal and in the REPowerEU Plan, there is pressing need to increase the number of ambitious building renovations across the EU and to better integrate the switch to efficient renewable-based heating and cooling as an integral part of building renovations. Businesses are one of the key contributors to the clean energy transition. However, many homeowners, building owners, small businesses or public authorities lack the skills and capacity to set up, implement and finance complex and ambitious clean energy transition projects. In addition, many project developers face high implementation costs, given the relatively small size of the investments and the lack of turnkey solutions, and have limited access to adequate and attractive financing solutions on the market.

This topic aims at supporting the creation or replication of One-Stop-Shops, proposing integrated services for clean energy transition in buildings and businesses.

Projects are expected to tackle, but are not limited to, the following aspects:

1. Improve market conditions and develop integrated building renovation service offers to:

• Reduce complexity, simplify decision making and stimulate demand for investment in energy performance improvements and decarbonisation.
• Connect all relevant actors in the value chain (e.g. construction companies, architects, engineers, urban planners, financers, etc.).
• Streamline access to various support measures, especially where there is support for specific target groups (e.g. energy poor households).
• Improve awareness and trust towards such integrated services, through clear accountability, quality assurance and/or dedicated consumer protection policies.
• Develop a robust pipeline of investments in building renovations, able to increase interest and participation from financial institutions and exploit synergies on the market, for instance via the development of dedicated financial products for building renovations mediated by One-Stop-Shops.

2. Provide methods and support:

• Integrated services implemented, operational and tested
• Build expertise and organisational innovations needed for project development.
• Reduce costs and time on-site through standardised approaches (e.g. optimised business processes, standardised contractual arrangements, branding of the proposed services etc.).
• Ensure cost effectiveness and price transparency of services provided to final beneficiaries.

3. Aim at a self-sustained business model:

• Integration of services can be developed through dedicated operators and/or through an improved co-ordination between existing local actors.
• The prospect of economically viable business models is expected, targeting self-sustainability in the medium to long term, i.e. ultimately running without subsidies to cover running costs.

4. Communicate results:

• Disseminate innovative solutions (e.g. organisational and contractual), suited to the targeted contexts.
• Help improve legal and regulatory environments.
• Demonstrate a high degree of replicability and include a clear action plan to communicate experiences and results towards potential replicators across the EU.

Proposals should be well integrated in their local and national context, making best use of what is locally available, notably in terms of local market conditions and public support schemes, and contribute to develop partnerships between local authorities and the relevant market players, in the construction, heating and cooling, and wider energy sectors. The targeted territories and/or sector should be clearly identified and justified, notably segmenting and quantifying the potential target users, and a first detailed concept of the services should be presented in the proposal.

Based on the generic approach and common objectives presented above, proposals are expected to focus on one of the four scopes below. The scope addressed should be specified in the introduction of the proposal.

Although this does not exclude the possibility of addressing, in addition, some aspects of the other scopes, proposals must be perfectly clear on what the core focus of the approach is, and who the main final beneficiaries will be.

Scope A: Integrated Home Renovation Services

Under scope A, actions should clearly focus on the energy efficient renovation of existing single or multi-family buildings in the private residential sector. Actions in "complex buildings" (e.g. coexistence of owner-occupied and rented housing; coexistence of private and social housing; coexistence of housing and business premises, typically on the ground floor; etc.) may be included in this scope. Specific approaches to deal with subsets of the residential sector (e.g. focus on condominiums, focus on energy poor households, etc.) are also welcome, as long as the main focus is on private non-professional homeowners (including homeowners' associations in the condominium sector). For instance, actions targeting mainly social/public rental housing operators would not be in scope A, but rather in scope B or C (depending on the national context).

Beyond the common objectives presented above, the proposals presented under this scope should meet the following specific objectives:

The services developed under scope A should cover the whole "customer journey" of the homeowners aiming to renovate their home, from technical and social diagnosis, technical offer, obtaining permits, finding qualified professionals, contracting of works, structuring and provision of finance (e.g. loans), facilitating access to available subsidies or other support schemes, to the monitoring of works and quality assurance. Proposals should not only aim to provide first level information and generic diagnosis, but also clearly indicate how they will actively support homeowners in the selection of professionals to carry out the renovation works and in the works phase itself, including an analysis of how they will deal with potential legal issues related to competition regulations.

Scope B: Integrated services for private rental housing energy upgrade

Under scope B, actions should clearly focus on the energy performance improvement of existing buildings owned by private professional entities operating under private law, with a core focus on rental housing. Examples of stakeholders that could be targeted by the services developed under scope B are, among others: housing companies, housing cooperatives, real-estate investors, property managers (on behalf of multi-owner households or real estate investors), building administrators, non-profit organisations, etc.

Beyond the common objectives presented above, the proposals presented under this scope should meet the following specific objectives:

The type of integrated solutions developed must be particularly tailored to the specificities of rental housing in the local context, especially from a real estate portfolio management and asset valuation perspective. Services developed under scope B should not be limited to first level information and generic diagnosis, but should also address: the development of strategic partnerships with construction companies and/or financial institutions (notably in the context of the EU taxonomy); the development of dedicated financial and/or fiscal schemes; the development of a sustainable business model. Proposals should also pay particular attention to governance issues, e.g. developing a framework to facilitate decisions and conflict resolution among co-owners, or developing a framework so that tenants can participate in decisions and partly share risks and benefits, etc.

Scope C: Integrated services for clean energy transition in public buildings

Under scope C, actions should clearly focus on the ambitious energy renovation of existing public buildings (e.g. administrative buildings, hospitals, schools), and should target legal entities operating under public law (e.g. public authorities, public bodies, social/public rental housing operators, etc.) as the main final beneficiaries of the services to be put in place.

Beyond the common objectives presented above, the proposals presented under this scope should meet the following specific objectives:

Projects selected under scope C should create and sustain long-term financial and technical capacity amongst public authorities to develop projects. Therefore, proposals should establish and operate facilitation structures, for example one-stop-shops, offering a comprehensive, all-inclusive service offer from technical, financial to legal advice, procurement and quality assurance of works. Service offers should cover a large territory (i.e. operating at provincial, regional or national level), for the benefit of especially small and medium-sized municipalities or other public bodies. Proposals should clearly demonstrate how the facilitation structures will be established in terms of governance, mandate, geographical coverage and long-term sustainability. Legal assistance should be considered to facilitate and prioritise the aggregation of building renovation projects (belonging to one or several public entities). Services should also include financial engineering support to increase blending of public and private funding and uptake of EU funding sources (e.g. InvestEU, Recovery and Resilient Facility and European Structural and Investment Funds, including REACT-EU and Just Transition Mechanism). Proposals should demonstrate how the services will trigger ambitious energy renovation of public buildings, demonstrating the exemplary role of public authorities in decarbonising their assets and leading the way towards the European clean energy transition.

Scope D: Integrated services for the clean energy transition of businesses

Under scope D, actions should clearly focus on the lack of internal resources and/or lack of skilled personnel in businesses, especially SMEs, to cover the whole process of investment in energy efficiency and small-scale renewable energy projects.

Beyond the common objectives presented above, the proposals presented under this scope should meet the following specific objectives:

Projects selected under scope D should develop and optimise an integrated service offer for the clean energy transition of SMEs in the targeted territory. Coordinated and comprehensive service solutions should not be limited to audits but should necessarily cover the aspects related to the preparation and implementation of investments, for example but not limited to: business case (including non-energy benefits), engineering, procurement, supervision of the works, reception of the works, quality assurance and management of litigation, identification of available funding, matchmaking with banks, ESCOs or other investment sources. Where relevant, proposals could also envisage operational support to groups of companies (e.g. project aggregation, joint procurement activities, etc.) in a perspective of territorial development.

Proposals may be submitted by a single applicant from a single eligible country.

For Scopes A, B, C and D, the Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 1.5 million would allow the specific objectives to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.