The event ‘Speeding up the implementation of Net Zero Emission Buildings and Neighbourhoods through targeted financial policies‘ will take place on 13 June in hybrid mode (Brussels and online).

The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is ambitious, and many countries around Europe are lagging behind in implementing it. However, several innovative demonstration projects have been realised as part of research and innovation projects around Europe. The demonstration projects serve as lighthouses to guide the wider implementation of net zero emission buildings and neighbourhoods.

Lack of finance is considered to be one of the key barriers to improving buildings’ energy efficiency at the required speed and scale. Beyond the financing gap, the built environment is a complex network of stakeholders, financial barriers, and mixed incentives, all of which need to align and be overcome to speed up the decarbonisation of the EU’s housing stock.

This session will present the experiences from innovative demonstration projects of net zero emission and plus energy neighbourhoods around Europe, as well as the viewpoints of key stakeholders along the value chain. Moreover, the policy measures needed to finance and scale up such projects around Europe will be discussed. The main outcome will be a list of policy recommendations for private and public decision-makers.

The event will take place at NTNU’s Brussels Office and online. A plenary session from 12:45 until 14:20 will be hybrid, while a workshop will run from 14:40 to 16:15 presentially in Brussels.

The event is organised by the H2020 projects ARV and syn.ikia and the FME ZEN (Research Centre on Zero Emission Neighbourhoods in Smart Cities) as part of the EUSEW - Sustainable Energy Day.