Renovating and refurbishing the building stock in Europe is an enormous task that cannot be shouldered by public investment only. The EU, in its Energy Efficiency Directive, foresees an exemplary role of the public sector in this regard and views private investment as the main driving force for reaching the aspired breadth and depth of renovation. Public sector engagement is necessary for doing the groundwork, such as preparing sound renovation strategies that can guide private investment or raise awareness of the various benefits of renovations to elicit higher consumer demand.

This guide is developed within the Project EmBuild - Empower public authorities to establish a long-term strategy for mobilizing investment in the energy efficient renovation of the building stock. It presents possible measures for improving the awareness of benefits of applying energy efficiency measures and deep renovation in public buildings at local level. It includes measures of a more general nature as well as country-specific recommendations. The main objective of this document is to present existing and/ or innovative approaches/mechanisms for active involvement of stakeholders at public level and to facilitate and stimulate application of such awareness raising measures in practice. The focus of EmBuild lies at the local level. Thus, measures are identified with a distinct local (municipal) and regional (county or district) application.

The recommendations and suggestions in this guide are aimed at local energy efficiency practitioners such as energy managers, energy officers, other experts and personnel involved in planning and applying energy efficiency measures at local level who also have the difficult task to convince the decision makers in benefits of application of energy efficiency measures in public buildings for various reasons (new directives, laws, requirements, budget restrictions, etc.) or interact in their daily practice with the stakeholders who are directly affected or influence the application of the energy efficiency measures (general public, NGOs, building societies, and others).

The EmBuild Project receives funding from the Horizon 2020 European Union Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No 695169.

Guide to Raising Awareness at Municipal Level