Let’s be pragmatic: Final steps in Paris before the launch of EU Peers Community of Practice

“EU Peers is an initiative whose aim is to significantly increase the residential energy renovation rate by strengthening and upscaling the Integrated Home Renovation Services (IHRS). The EU Peers consortium, with eleven European partners, wants to accomplish this by establishing an inclusive European Community of Practice. The Community will target mainly IHRS providers, like one-stop shops (OSS), or supporters of OSS as members.”

This description of the mission and vision of EU Peers highlights how far EU Peers has come since the first steps at the project’s kick-off meeting in September 2023: Not just in our understanding of the Community of Practice, but also regarding the visualisation of EU Peers. At the second project meeting in Paris, from 10-12 April 2024, this was particularly evident in a small, but striking detail: EU Peers project partners and interested parties could be recognized instantly due to small buttons with the EU Peers logo. New, and also featuring the coherent EU Peers design, is the preliminary EU Peers website, which is now online: https://www.eu-peers.eu/.

© EU Peers, From left to right: Jenny-Claire Keilmann and Marcus Andreas, both Climate Alliance, facilitating the discussion on the members’ journey of the Community of Practice. 

At the RaiseLab venue in Paris, the EU Peers project consortium brainstormed together to review the journey of the members of the Community of Practice in its entire course. This journey starts when potential members are made aware of the Community, through the application process and finally to their involvement within the national or transnational platforms. The consortium agreed that especially when the first organisations are joining the Community of Practice, their membership journey should be very simple and with a low threshold. Specifically, this means that in-depth data will not be a requirement to join the Community. This pragmatic approach will be evaluated and adapted if necessary, when the Community reaches a certain number of members.

© EU Peers, Plenary session at the SERAFIN network conference. 

On the second day of the project meeting, the EU Peers consortium participated in the SERAFIN network’s conference. The event took place at the Conseil économique, social et environmental (CESE) and attracted around 500 participants in total, including virtual participants. The network initiated discussions on French and European public policies, presenting local initiatives fostering ambitious and affordable energy renovation for all, but also how bank financing for renovation can be secured. The SERAFIN network presented their progress and planned development in France until 2024, but also the network’s standard reference system to ensure the quality and compliance of high-performance renovations. 

Together with European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA) project advisor Christophe Milin, Jenny-Claire Keilmann (project coordinator, Climate Alliance) introduced EU Peers to the plenum. In the following session, four members of the EU Peers project consortium presented the status of one-stop shops, as well as country-specific challenges for Integrated Home Renovation Services: Francesca Hugony for Italy (ENEA), Gergely Schum for Hungary (Energiaklub), Miguel Segovia Martínez form Spain (GBCE) and, last but not least, Alex Hamilton for Ireland (SEEA). 

© EU Peers, EU Peers Workshop at SERAFIN network conference, from left to right: Françoise Réfabert (Energies Demain), Francesca Hugony for Italy (ENEA), Miguel Segovia Martínez form Spain (GBCE), Alex Hamilton (SEEA) and Gergely Schum (Energiaklub).

The framework conditions for one-stop shops in these four countries are very different: For example, while in Italy, Hungary and Spain there is no clear legal definition of one-stop shops, the definition in Ireland is quite narrow, putting smaller contractors at a disadvantage. What applies to all one-stop shops is that a lack of contractors and materials are a large obstacle to reaching renovation goals and that making one-stop shops bankable and less costly is still a large challenge. 

Picture subtitle: © EU Peers, Jenny-Claire Keilmann introducing the agenda on the final day of the EU Peers Project Meeting at the RaiseLab venue.

For the EU Peers project partners, the next highlight will be the EU Peers Summit on 11 June in Brussels. At the summit, the main message will be to communicate broadly that the EU Peers Community of Practice is now open to receiving members. Until then, the consortium still has some “homework” to tackle: To streamline the membership process and to make the value of the Community clear to future members.

© EU Peers, EU Peers project partners using the roof-top terrace of RaiseLab to connect with and update each other.

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