Policy around CONCERTO

The CONCERTO initiative constitutes the important effort of putting EU energy and climate change policy into practice. The initiative also has the potential to stimulate policy developments at a local level. It is part of the work of CONCERTO Premium to analyse and support both of these aspects.
Findings from CONCERTO Plus regarding Phases 1 and 2 are already available – you can download the report here.

In January 2007, the Commission proposed the comprehensive energy and climate policy “An Energy Policy for Europe” (for the full text click here) including three targets: a 20 % share of renewable energy sources by 2020, a 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and a 20% increase in energy saving, compared to projections, by 2020. This policy was endorsed by the European Council in spring 2007. Since then, a longer term of reducing emissions by 80-95% by 2050 has been agreed by the Council of the European Union (read more here).
The building sector is crucial in meeting these ambitious energy and climate objectives. Residential and commercial buildings are the largest users of energy and the largest CO2 emitters in the EU: they are responsible for about 40% of the EU’s total final energy consumption and 33% of CO2 emissions. This sector has significant, untapped potential for cost-effective energy savings which, if realized, would mean that the EU will consume 11% less final energy by 2020. Exploiting this potential provides a number of benefits, such as reduced impacts on climate, reduced energy needs and import dependency, reduced energy bills for citizens, an increase in employment in the EU and the promotion of local development.

The CONCERTO initiative aims to demonstrate that the energy optimisation of an entire neighbourhood or community, using an integrated approach, is more efficient and financially more attractive, than optimising each building individually. This section offers an overview of the EU’s regulatory framework and its implementation into national law by the 23 member states involved. It concerns the three policy fields: low carbon construction policy, low carbon refurbishment policy and low carbon energy supply policy.

On 10th July 2012, the European Commission launched the Smart Cities and Communities European Innovation Partnership (SCC). This partnership proposes  pooling resources to support the demonstration of energy, transport and information and communication technologies (ICT) in urban areas. The energy, transport and ICT industries are invited to work together with cities in order to combine their technologies to address cities' needs. This will enable innovative, integrated and efficient technologies to roll out and enter the market more easily, while placing cities at the centre of innovation. The funding will be awarded through yearly calls for proposals (read more about communication from the Commission here).