Cities need support to implement their Sustainable Action Plans in line with the ambitious and stringent regulations towards a zero carbon Europe. The EYES HEARTS HANDS Urban Revolution (EHHUR) project will develop and test a co-designed methodological structure to support cities in their built environment transformation by using already existing good practices and complementing them with the New European Bauhaus and EU Missions principles. 7 Lighthouse demonstrators will be involved across EU and Associated countries (DK, EL, BE, PT, TK, HR, IT). EHHUR will tackle socio-economic and cultural challenges through relevant case studies facing social segregation, vulnerable residents (experiencing energy poverty), coal transition, depopulated and degraded historic centres. EHHUR relies on engagement and co-design as the “backbone” of its methodology, by deploying a set of tailored social innovation activities aimed not only to engage, but also to commit the participation of relevant urban players at multiple and multidisciplinary levels (technology co-design, co-financing, aesthetic co-creation). The EHHUR new integrated methodology will cover innovative i) engagement practices to transform citizens into active players of their future urban transformation and empower them in the decision-making process, ii) financing schemes involving local businesses and citizens, iii) digital and green technologies, iv) architectural design and materials to meet climate change and sustainability challenges while respecting heritage and cultural eco-systems, v) arts and creative co-design in third sector buildings and public areas. The diversified experiences of the LH demonstrators will provide a variety of good practices and guidelines for future replication. Future adopters will benefit from a DSS tool, supported by a capacity building programme, that offers the ideal mix of best technical solutions, optimal financing schemes and engagement tools and social innovation practice.

European districts play a pivotal role in the achievement of a future low carbon economy. The envisaged actions of the ProLight project are representative for innovative refurbishment with large potential of immediate replication of other residential buildings from the municipalities & the social housing involved. ProLight assembles & closely integrates all needed actors & measures. The envisaged solutions will lead to better quality of life for all targeted end-users. This includes to find suitable social responses for awareness creation, up-take of knowledge, establishment of behavioral changes towards the energy efficient use & the integration of renewables within an appropriate local political frame. Analysed districts include: 1) Building and renovating in an energy and resource efficient way in AT, FI & GR, 2) Energy communities in ES, IT & PT combined in so-called Innovation clusters. A multi-actor approach uses a methodological concept that explicitly takes into account the energy transition as a societal lever for innovation in the involved demo districts. Applied research will be connected with theoretical analysis that involves identifying and compiling good practices, successful initiatives and exemplar real-world demo sites. These practices will be assessed and lead to a complete European competence framework, encapsulating the skills required to reach this change via recorded successful methods observed through ProLight. The project combines individual, gender & collective aspects of active and responsible citizenship in an integrated working concept, to conceptualize climate-aware citizens and communities. ProLight exploits the potential of this growing wave of civic engagement and citizen science, in order to facilitate the transition to green, sustainable societies & economies. ProLight achieves this by understanding, defining, measuring & assessing of 6 demo districts in different regions of Europe & disseminate effectively project results.

Many projects of high energy savings potential, both in the private and public sectors, have been identified by building owners, local energy agencies and ESCOs. However, a large number of them consistently fails to reach implementation stage, as they collide with two main barriers: 1) lack of scale to attract professional investors in this project type and/or 2) restrictive Public Procurement procedures that are expensive to prepare and adapt to each project case. - BundleUP will develop a “Ponto Energia”, will bundle projects according to specific characteristics (investment size, technology, geography) using the currently available framework and consolidated procurement procedures to provide projects with scale, improve bankability, investor-trust and result in a faster time-to-market. The action aims at developing at least 58 Portuguese sustainable energy projects with total estimated investments of EUR 49,9m. These projects will trigger around 155 GWh/year of primary energy savings and generate 3,1 GWh/year of renewable energy. - Innovative approaches will be implemented concerning financing models and sources. BundleUP will strongly focus on energy savings projects, including renewable energy self-consumption. The project will make use of existing and innovative financing instruments, combine them with institutional investors (such as investment funds or ESCOs) while stimulating the engagement of citizens and local communities by using crowdfunding and cooperative business models to share the benefits of sustainable energy investment. - By placing Portuguese local and regional energy agencies in a central role, with regard to potential project identification, dissemination and relation with local authorities, companies and stakeholders, BundleUP will put in practice the Energy Agencies’ objective of “acting as an intermediary between the local authority and local players in the energy market.” Moreover, BundleUP will promote the replication of the developed methodology and business-models with knowledge transfer workshops aimed at sharing the knowledge gathered during the project at EU level.

The purpose of “PEER” is to develop the Porto Energy Hub that will support a novel renovation programme in the north of Douro river region of Porto Metropolitan Area, AMP-ND (Portugal) aiming to fight energy poverty by promoting buildings energy efficiency, renewable self-consumption energy communities and mainstreaming new financial schemes. PEER will develop integrated tools to overcome market barriers for social and low income households energy efficiency (while promoting energy communities) PEER will: 1. Focus on delivering energy efficiency to improve housing conditions in AMP-ND namely on the interventions on reducing building energy needs, such as envelope insulation, efficient windows and doors, lighting, efficient heating and cooling systems, etc. as means to mitigate the impact of energy poverty; 2. Include renewable energy as an add-on to energy efficiency namely by the development of energy communities that allow the development of production units for self-consumption; 3. Mainstream alternative financial schemes and business models by combining existing funding sources and innovative financing schemes. All actions will be supported by capacity building, communication and dissemination activities targeted to the various stakeholders, namely low-income homeowners, public and private building owners, project developers, ESCO and financial institutions. Porto Energy Hub will leverage EUR 27,2 million of investment covering 3,000 households in the region and leading to 71 GWh/year and 17 GWh/year of primary energy savings and renewable energy production respectively. In a nutshell, the Porto Energy Hub will act as a one-stop-shop to public and private building owners, promoting aggregation to develop a bold renovation programme of their buildings and combine them with alternative financial schemes and legal models.

ASCEND (Accelerate positive Clean Energy Districts) seeks to accelerate the implementation of positive, clean energy districts (PCED) for cities’ transition toward climate neutrality and social justice across Europe. ASCEND will: - Deliver two inclusive, affordable PCEDs in Lyon and Munich; - Successfully "bootstrap" implementation of PCEDs in the Multiplier Cities of Alba Iulia (RO), Budapest (HU), Charleroi (BE), Prague (CZ), Porto (PT), Stockholm (SE); - Scale-up solution packages for a large community of cities and investors across Europe; - Disseminate our results widely to the smart cities community. Our overarching goals are to i) Make cities healthier, inclusive and climate-neutral; ii) Speed up and scale up the deployment of cost-effective PCEDs solution packages. “Getting PCEDs done” across Europe entails the following actions for ASCEND: First, large-scale demonstrations in Lighthouse Cities (LHCs), using existing knowledge built by generation of Smart Cities Projects, offering well-proven and cost-effective solutions packages, scalable by design to cities across Europe. Second, developing our solutions packages across the entire life of the district: from design to implementation and maintenance, performances must be maintained and increased thanks to an urban orchestrator aiming to coordinate the ecosystem in the long run. Third, creating a PCEDs replication wave during ASCEND in our eight partnering cities by iterating between the development of solutions packages and deployment in LHCs and Multiplier cities (MCs) during the project and not after. MCs will achieve impact by bootstrapping their PCEDs during the project. Finally, triggering a PCED wave through outcome-driven collaboration with EC initiatives, such as Climate-Neutral and Smart City Mission, Covenant of Mayor, Smart Cities Marketplace, Scalable cities but also with the deployment of City Alliances in the eight cities, targeting small cities, not used to European projects.