Publications

Accelerating energy renovation investments in buildings

At today’s renovation rate of around 1% of buildings per year, a timely transition of the EU building sector towards climate-neutral levels by 2050 cannot be ensured. Various private and public financial and fiscal mechanisms for energy renovations in buildings are currently available in Europe in the form of non-repayable rewards, debt financing, equity financing, etc.

This report provides a country-by-country overview of the most important public schemes identified across the EU, and investigates new private financial products in place to stimulate more energy efficiency investments in residential, commercial and public buildings. Good practices are identified based on the criteria of impact, cost effectiveness, ambition level of energy efficiency upgrade, funding sustainability/continuity, scalability and outreach to hard-to-reach groups.

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Energy Policies of IEA Countries: Estonia 2019

This report on Estonia is the first since the country became the 29th member of the IEA in 2014. It discusses the energy challenges the country faces and recommends possible solutions to help it achieve a secure and sustainable energy future.

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The State of Housing in the EU

A Report by the Housing Europe Observatory

Report ‘The State of Housing in the EU’ that has become over the last years the biennial compass of Europe’s housing sector.

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Affordability in housing construction

A Research Briefing by the Housing Europe Observatory

The Observatory of Housing Europe presents volume 3 of the series ‘Housing in the post-2020 EU’. This edition is dedicated to to describing some of the more innovative ways in which housing providers are trying to contain and decrease construction costs.

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Quick Start Guide in RRI for Science Engagement Organisations

Making science engaging is vital work, but fraught with challenges. How do you stay relevant in your local community? How do you ensure activities are designed in a way that places the needs and preferences of multiple target audiences at their centre? How do you find new collaborators and effectively expand your network? If you work for a science engagement organisation and need some support or just a little direction, this quick start guide to Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI) will help.

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How to work in low-trust environments with integrity and compassion

A must-read for everyone looking for a modern, effective approach to community engagement, “How NOT to Piss Off a Community” helps you align your entire organisation – from front-line risk communicators to CEOs or government Ministers – with the reality of affected communities for an approach, rooted in compassion that actually works.

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SPRAWLCreative and resource-efficient approaches to addressing the affordable housing crises facing our cities

Cities and social housing providers are facing two challenges: how to find the land to build more and cheaper housing units and how to accelerate the renovation of existing homes. OECD report provides a new perspective to the nature of urban sprawl and its causes and environmental, social and economic consequences. In addition, the report offers a critical assessment of the causes and consequences of urban sprawl and discusses policy options to steer urban development to more environmentally sustainable forms.

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INTEGR

Book: Integration in housing – Models for social cohesion

The latest book by the Sozialbau partly reproduces the original German-language version “Integration im Wohnbau – Modelle für ein soziales Zusammenleben”, published by Verlag Birkhäuser in 2017. Although increasing migration occurred, particularly from 2015, during the period of this study, it is in no way concerned with the acute housing policy measures taken at the time but focuses on the matter of “integration” — a process that is seen as long-term, detailed and continuous. This English edition, curated by Herbert Ludl, analyses examples of the opportunities for effective action of the limited-profit, cooperatively-organised, Vienna group of companies (Sozialbau AG) from various perspectives.

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