The project aims at facilitating the dialogue between Italian public and private key actors on financing issues related to energy efficiency in the existing and new buildings sector and fostering collaboration, innovation and action through the establishment of a permanent national roundtable and connected events at local level. The project will set up a national roundtable with selected high level stakeholders in order to allow an in-depth discussion about current barriers and market failures, as well as share best practice and innovative financing solutions, with the goal to improve stakeholders’ awareness and knowledge and to identify the necessary political and regulatory framework. In parallel, local events and initiatives will be organized to engage as many stakeholders as possible, enabling capacity building, dissemination, replication activities and scale up of “success stories”: local actors are one of the main drivers of the energy transition and they bring forward tremendous opportunities for investment and innovation in a number of fields. National roundtables and local events will be organised in order to trigger a continuous and mutually reinforcing virtuous circle. The combination of a top-down and bottom-up approach will create the conditions for the development of tailor made support tools and instruments for the different stakeholders involved. The outcomes of the national roundtables and the local events will be analysed, and a roadmap for PAs and industry sector including strategic and operative recommendations for the implementation of financial instruments will be elaborated. Connections with past and current similar initiatives at EU level will be pursued throughout the project, in order to keep the national outputs in line with EU requirements and the provisions put in place to face the ongoing global situation. Finally, different strategies to maintain the roundtables as a permanent forum after the end of the project will be proposed.

EEnvest aims at supporting investors´ decision making process by translating building’s energy efficiency technical requirements into economic indicators. These indicators are in turn used to evaluate financial risks associated with deep renovation investment and to include non-energy benefits in asset evaluation models. EEnvest will allow the financial sector to match the EE investments demand and offer for commercial office buildings located in Italy and Spain. EEnvest will increase financers’, investors’, owners’ and users’ mutual trust, by identifying, quantifying and mitigating technical risks associated to those investments as well as by reducing the cost of credit for lenders through targeted risk reduction actions. EEnvest will develop effective evaluation methods for the technical/financial risk correlation by categorising a number of major technical risks and quantifying their impact on investors´ confidence. Those risks will be i) evaluated exploiting existing databases on building energy efficiency (e.g. DEEP database of Energy Efficincy Financial Institutions Group), ii) organized into investor friendly bechmark track record and iii) transferred on a web-based platform through secured blockchain networks The investment demand and offer will be supported by the EEnvest - search&match investment evaluation web-based platform, integrating building stock evaluation data, both from the technical and the financial side. EEnvest approach will be replicable in more countries and business cases thanks to the standardization of technical/financial due diligence framework for energy efficiency renovation of buildings and to the search&match web-based platform allowing deep renovation investments to be more appealing on the financial market.

While it’s widely accepted that energy efficiency investments are not only necessary from an environmental point of view but also convenient in terms of expected return and payback times, it’s still difficult to attract private finance that can boost the energy transition process on a large scale in the retail sector and supermarkets is just a good example of it. Of the total operating costs of a supermarket, which include purchasing merchandise, employee salaries, and more, energy can account for between 10% and 15%, which is huge for a business that operates such tight margins. SUPER-HEERO develops an innovative collaborative and scalable financial scheme based on i) Citizen financing through a crowd-funding/co-operative scheme building upon the loyalty programs in the supermarkets and implementing gamification strategies, ii) Strategic partnerships with ESCOs and utilities to support financially the energy efficiency investments on the basis of the benefits of engaging a large base of energy users through the supermarket co-operative program, iii_ Engagement of technology providers in performance-based schemes that allow them to profit from their products/technologies through innovative circular business models (e.g. leasing, Technology as a service) while making the technology more affordable and accessible for supermarket and similar business. In this way, SUPER-HEERO provides an instrument for supermarkets to access the much-needed funding that allows implementation of energy efficiency strategies and unlocks the potential of energy savings over 40%, which in turn would materialize in economic, social and environmental gains.

The transition to renewable energy, particularly through the widespread adoption of distributed solar PV systems, is hindered by significant technical, social, financial, and regulatory barriers. Key challenges include energy poverty and inequality, especially in Mediterranean regions where inefficient housing and rental systems exacerbate the issue. Limited awareness, bureaucratic hurdles, and inadequate financial incentives further slow adoption, while integrating decentralized renewable energy into existing communities remains complex. Unlocking the full potential of Renewable Energy Communities (RECs) requires clear benefits, accessible financial tools, and innovative technologies to enhance the efficiency and longevity of PV systems. SOCIAREM will accelerate the adoption and profitability of PV systems within RECs by overcoming these barriers through an innovative, implementable solution integrated with collective self-consumption schemes. The project will develop advanced tools tailored to diverse socio-economic and geographical contexts, enhancing efficiency, minimizing energy losses, and maximizing renewable energy use. Blockchain-enabled platforms will facilitate secure, decentralized peer-to-peer energy sharing, improving energy autonomy and resilience. Inclusive social data spaces will ensure fair energy distribution while safeguarding privacy, addressing energy vulnerability, and promoting social equity. Citizen engagement will be fostered through gamification and educational tools, ensuring participation across different cultural and behavioural profiles. A consortium of universities, R&D centres, and companies will drive SOCIAREM’s development, ensuring strong scientific and market expertise. The project’s solutions will be tested in four European RECs—Switzerland, Cyprus, Portugal, and Italy—while incorporating insights from Egypt. By reaching TRL7, SOCIAREM will validate its tools’ effectiveness, providing a scalable and sustainable model for RECs.

There is an untapped potential for private investments in energy efficiency, especially in the residential private sector, due to non-technical barriers. Some EU countries have more developed markets and have shown significant good practices (ie. France), while others are lacking behind, especially in Central East Europe (energy service markets still sub-optimal but great opportunities for ambitious investments in deep refurbishment) and in South Europe (where energy consumption for heating in the housing sector is lower than it is in the North, making deep refurbishment investments based on EU policies less beneficiary). PadovaFIT EXPANDED starts from the recent experience of the IEE-funded PadovaFIT project (lead by CPD with SOGESCA as technical partner), focused on the the energy refurbishment of condominiums in the Padova metropolitan area, via an ESCO (selected with a public tender) and the use of standardized EPCs. The project builds on the experience (good and bad) generated in the Padova area (engagement actions, trained condominium facilitators, market players involvement, template contracts to be improved, financing products to be better elaborated) and aims at planning, creating and piloting a one-stop-shop dedicated to private residential buildings with an improved and financially sustainable business model, result of specific mapping of needs and SWOT analysis. The project aims at expanding the business model to the metropolitan area of Timisoara (RO) who will will adapt the model to the Romanian conditions, launching and piloting a one-stop-shop as well. The Bulgarian Energy Agency of Plovdiv will support the metropolitan areas of Vidin and Smolyan to prepare the ground, for the launching of sound one-stop-shops in Bulgaria. The consortium is integrated by an internationally renowned research centre (Bocconi University) expert in business modeling, 2 finance experts and Climate Alliance, a European network of local authorities for sustainability.