EuroPACE kick-off meeting in Barcelona

Developing, piloting and standardising on-tax financing for residential energy efficiency retrofits in European cities and regions (EuroPACE) – kick-off meeting in Barcelona

CASE experts, Dr. Izabela Styczyńska, and Dr. Stanislav Bieliei took part in the kick-off meeting of the EuroPACE H2020 project in Barcelona which CASE is leading.

The concept of EuroPACE is inspired by the success of an on-tax financing model called PACE, launched in California in 2008. In the US, in the past four years, the PACE market reached over $4.7 billion in funded projects, including the retrofit of over 200,000 homes, which resulted in more than 42,000 new local jobs and the creation of hundreds new companies as PACE can be used to pay for energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation upgrades to homes and buildings. PACE financing covers up to 100% of a project’s costs and is repaid as a special assessment added to a property tax bill over a term of up to 20 years.

On-tax financing is a type of financing mechanism used to collect the repayment for money that was lent for investments in building improvements that meet a ‘valid public purpose’, e.g. save or produce energy. Typically, investors lend money for deep retrofits up-front and then get repaid regularly through an additional charge on a tax bill. Therefore, EuroPACE will be a form of on-tax financing building upon an existing relationship municipalities have with their citizens – the property tax system.

EuroPACE aim is indeed to adopt best practices from the US PACE market while intending to further enhance its reach, scope, and overall impact well beyond the American experience. EuroPACE will be uniquely tailored to boost energy efficiency investment in existing buildings, ranging from homes to offices, hotels, multi-family and mixed-use properties. Thanks to such an approach, the impact of EuroPACE platform will go far beyond energy savings and each Euro invested in building renovations will result in societal and economic benefits, including job creation and climate change abatement. Ultimately, EuroPACE will contribute to the creation of resilient and vibrant communities that enjoy economic growth and healthy environments. From a policy perspective, EuroPACE will enable local and state governments in the EU to achieve the 2050 policy targets and COP21 Paris Agreement goals of reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.

CASE is a coordinator of the project and delivers crossover analysis identifying a roadmap for EuroPACE adoption.

Photo: EuroPACE