Policy News

There isn’t one renovation wave

A district-level approach is needed to move quickly and deeply

Policies to promote home renovation have often failed in the past because they have taken the obvious, and incorrect, starting point – the home. Instead, we need to recognise that homes are part of a local ecosystem of intermixed buildings, businesses, energy and people. By incorporating all of those elements into a district-level plan we can begin to hit the 3% renovation target and deliver on the Green Deal.

Energy Cities to the German government: Support an ambitious EU Energy Efficiency Directive

The former Energiewende pioneer needs to seriously step up

In an open letter sent to the German Minister for Energy and Economy, Peter Altmaier, our president and lord mayor of Heidelberg, Eckart Würzner, calls on Germany to champion a strong and robust energy efficiency policy for Europe through the future Energy Efficiency Directive.

The local view on EU policies

Energy Cities is the local authorities’ watchdog on European and national energy and climate policies. Now that Brussels has formally adopted its “clean energy package”, we monitor how the progressive provisions we advocated for are being translated at national level. On the EU front, we continue to call for a better alignment of energy, regional and agricultural policies and for an overall budget in line with the 2050 decarbonisation objective.

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