Implementation map on barriers and success factors for E1st in buildings

From definition to implementation, the ENEFIRST project aims to implement the “Energy Efficiency First” (EE1st) principle in practice and operationalise it in various policy areas. It seeks to improve understanding of the relevance of the EE1st principle for decision processes related to energy demand and supply, and its broader impacts across sectors and markets, linked to the energy use of the building sector in EU Member States. EE1st means prioritising investments in energy efficiency and other demand-side resources whenever these options are more cost-effective than investments in energy supply, including generation and distribution network, from a societal perspective in meeting the policy objectives.
The research in this report builds on a previous ENEFIRST report which identified policy approaches for implementing the EE1st principle in the policy areas of buildings, the power sector and district heating with the potential to be fully implemented across the EU, bringing considerable benefits to consumers.
This report analyses in three steps the barriers and success factors specific to nine previously selected policy approaches. Starting with the systemic identification of barriers and success factors to each policy approach, we then discuss the main factors hampering and enabling these EE1st policies in an expert consultation. The results are visualised in so-called ‘implementation maps’ summarising the main barriers and possible solutions to the implementation of the EE1st concept as well as the related legislative and non-legislative changes required.

As shown in our previous research, full implementation of EE1st requires the concerted action of several stakeholder groups along the decision-making process as well as better harmonisation of EU and national regulatory frameworks. Our analysis generally shows that adaptation of EU legislation is needed to overcome (some of) the barriers but that many institutional barriers require interventions by national and local authorities to enable capacity building and additional resources in regulatory agencies and implementing organisations to realise the concepts and policy approaches.
The consultation with EU and national experts confirmed that more specific guidance is needed from EU level but that implementation of the EE1st principle also requires close cooperation between national and regional levels, especially in the buildings and district heating sectors where most decision-making takes place locally.