On 18th of June BUILD UP EU hosted the EUSEW 2020  policy session "Energy transition: new business models to de-risk investments and kick start the EU building renovation wave", coorganized by REHVA .

The webinar addressed address a key current challenges, such as mainstreaming energy efficiency finance through innovative mechanisms. The deployment of private investments for enchancing energy efficiency and renovation is a pivotal factor being addressed by EU policy makers that, in order to reach the Paris Agreement and 2050 targets, want to make green investmentsmore attractive for private capital (eg. via the taxonomy  initiative setting up criteria for sustainable investments).
Several H2020 funded projects are also tackling this challenge by setting up innovative business models and tools to de-risk energy efficiency investment and attract private capital.

The session was chaired by the REHVA President  Frank Hovorka, who asked for a "boiler room to meeting room" mindset cheange, aiming to make the quantifiable data about buildings energy efficiency undesrtandable for business makers and investors. The speakers addressed the topic during two panel debates, one focused on energy efficiency de-risking models and methodologies (chaired by Valerie Pleinemaison, EFIEES), and a second one about innovative business models (chaired by Filippos Anagnostopoulos, IEECP). The projects U-CERT and QUEST, in partnership with REHVA, presented their concept and scope represented by their respective project coordinators, Simona D'Oca (Huygens) and Stefan Plesser (synavision).

The webinar recordings will soon be available via the BUILD UP Youtube channel.