Cities and regions,

give your citizens a home renovation gift box.

Open a one-stop shop!

Why do one-stop shops matter for Europe’s climate and housing future?

Europe’s buildings account for 40% of its energy consumption. Around three quarters of the building stock remain energy-inefficient. Millions of households face rising energy costs, poor indoor air quality and homes that overheat in summer or lose heat in winter. Renovating these buildings is essential.

Yet renovation rates hover at just 1% per year, far below what is needed. Mainly because for most homeowners, renovating a home means navigating a maze of contractors, subsidies, technical decisions and paperwork, all at once, often alone. The process is fragmented, intimidating and easy to abandon.

This is where one-stop shops for home energy renovations come in. By bundling renovation support under one roof and building bridges with existing local actors, they reduce the complexity homeowners face. On average, 16% of the homeowners who receive advice from a one-stop shop go on to renovate, and the EU’s Joint Research Centre estimates they could deliver around 100,000 renovation projects a year.

The question is no longer whether we need one-stop shops but how best to support them.

European policy is now catching up. The recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2024/1275), whose transposition deadline fell at the end of May 2026, as well as the Energy Efficiency Directive (2023/1791) require Member States to deploy one-stop shops.

Member States shall establish at least one one-stop shop for the energy performance of buildings per 80 000 inhabitants or one per region or in a location that can be reached within less than 90 minutes of average travel time (for more details, refer to Article 18 of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive).

Opening a local one-stop shop is your political win!

Local one-stop shops for home energy renovations are a gift box cities and regions can offer to their citizens. They provide a large palette of services – from the initial advice, energy audit and project design, through the selection of companies and financing solutions to the coordination of renovation works and monitoring. A complex and risky project becomes simple, safe and accessible to all homeowners.

More than that, one-stop shops generate investments that boost local economy and create local jobs. The Buildings Performance Institute Europe estimates that for every €1 million invested in energy renovation of buildings, an average of 18 local and long-term jobs are created in the EU. One-stop shops themselves employ staff – at its creation in 2018, Oktave one-stop shop (France) employed 1 person, in 2025 it employed some 62 full-time equivalents.

Last but not least, they contribute to local, national and European climate goals. For example, they help Member States to increase the average energy performance of the national residential building stock by 20-22% by 2035 (binding target), focusing on the renovation of the worst-performing buildings.

Why should cities and regions feel concerned?

Homeowners perceive cities and regions as trusted partners. Public authorities are involved in nearly 74% of surveyed one-stop shops; confirming the central role of the public sector in enabling these services. Physical proximity and human contact with energy renovation advisors are fundamental for renovations to move forward. 49.1% of one-stop shops operate at regional level, covering territories spanning multiple municipalities. 24.6% focus on the local level and 10.5% operate nationally.  (Source: 2024 EU Peers Survey).

Still not convinced?

Get inspired by cities and regions who already have a one-stop shop

Get started, EU Peers Community is there to help you!

Now you are convinced that you need a one-stop shop but you don’t know how to start and where to get advice? Do not worry, you are not alone!

This is where EU Peers initiative comes in: a European community of practice dedicated to connecting, strengthening and scaling one-stop shops spread across the continent.

Cities and regions can join the community as service providers or supporters of their local one-stop shops. They get direct access to:

• Community platforms: from September 2026, the Community will be organised through 12 platforms (national or regional) in Italy, Spain, France, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium, Ireland, Germany, the Baltics plus a transnational platform open to all European countries. They form the central hub for the one-stop shops movement in Europe.
• Knowledge Hub: a growing multilingual repository of more than hundred reports, guides, case studies and practical tools for practitioners. For example, you can check this guidebook Energy Cities contributed to: ‘How to create a local support and financing service dedicated to home energy renovation? The example of Third-Party Financing companies in France’.
• Community intranet: members connect through a members-only intranet, where they can exchange resources, ask questions and collaborate across borders and languages.
• Capacity building events: Learning Labs (21 sessions conducted between 2024-2026), one-stop shop site visits across Europe, short online ‘Who is Who’ sessions, seasonal on-demand thematic events and much more to come. Check the topics the community has explored so far here.

Although the concept is quite new – 2 out of 3 One Stop Shops were created post-covid after 2020 – the number of one-stop shops has been growing and the EU directives will accelerate the process. The EU Peers Community now has more than 600 members. Join them, benefit from their experience and share yours.