Building Decarbonisation

This Working Group will support municipal strategic planning by mapping existing legislation and planning requirements and assessing how they interact across levels of government. It will then provide recommendations to improve regulatory coherence, helping local authorities drive building sector decarbonisation across Europe.  

The Financing Building Decarbonisation Working Group develops and promotes strategies to fund city-wide building decarbonisation. It develops ways of improving municipal capacities for running integrated district approaches, aligns investments with urban regeneration and local energy strategies, explores the potentials of alternative financing methods (e.g. on-bill, carbon credits, land value capture), and strengthens municipal fiscal capacity (taking into consideration tools like green bonds and public-private partnerships). A key focus is on ensuring municipal resources for integrated renovation approaches, just and affordable finance, especially for vulnerable households, while considering energy price dynamics.  

This group will explore how cities can lead building decarbonisation by working as part of dynamic local ecosystems. It will focus on stakeholder engagement, data-driven decision-making, and multi-level cooperation. Through system mapping, capacity building, and co-created strategies, the group aims to align local actions with EU climate goals, close policy gaps, and foster inclusive, place-based solutions that are practical, scalable, and rooted in local realities.  

Integrated district approaches for the decarbonisation of buildings offer a number of strategic, technical, and economic advantages over building-by-building efforts. Experience in district/neighbourhood approaches exists from ongoing and previous EU funding periods. This group will focus on how EU structural and cohesion funding can better support district and neighbourhood-level decarbonisation, especially in small and medium-sized cities. It is equally important to explore how integrated district approaches should be designed and implemented to ensure effective and efficient decarbonisation which includes developing appropriate working structures and instruments to engage building owners and other local stakeholders. Building on past experiences, the group will provide recommendations for future Cohesion Policy and explore ways to mainstream and scale up local projects that contribute to reducing carbon emissions in the built environment.