site.btaEU Court of Auditors: Benefits of Billions of Euro Invested in Energy Efficiency Cannot Be Measured

April 28 (BTA) - Cost-effectiveness is not a determining factor for allocating public funding to energy efficiency measures in residential buildings, according to a report released by the European Court of Auditors on Tuesday.
EU-funded projects still do not focus on achieving the greatest potential energy savings per euro invested. The overall contribution of EU funding to the Union's energy efficiency targets is not clear, say the auditors.

The auditors examined EU-funded programmes in five Member States (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy and Lithuania) that together allocated 2.9 billion euro to projects to increase the energy efficiency of buildings. Typical EU co-financed projects include the insulation of buildings, energy-efficient windows, thermal control systems and upgrades to heating systems.

For 2014-2020, the EU allocated some 14 billion euro to improving the energy efficiency of buildings, 4.6 billion euro of which was for residential buildings. In addition, Member States budgeted 5.4 billion euro in national co-financing for improvements to all types of building, around 2 billion euro of which was for residential buildings.

National authorities frequently require energy audits and performance certificates to evaluate investments. However, they do not use them for selecting projects, the auditors point out. In most cases, they allocate grants to projects on a first-come first-served basis, without comparing relative costs and benefits.

Since the cost-effectiveness of the investments is not measured, it is not possible to know how much energy will have been saved by investing a total of 6.6 billion euro of 2014-2020 public spending in residential buildings, the auditors conclude.

Over 2,000 buildings have been renovated across Bulgaria under the National Programme for Energy Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings.
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