Efficient Buildings Europe at the launch of the EU working group on affordable and sustainable housing

On 20 October, the European Commission’s Housing Task Force launched the Joint Working Group for Affordable and Sustainable Housing, under the European Energy Efficiency Financing Coalition and the Pan-European Investment Platform. Over the next 18 months, more than 100 experts from public authorities, banks and investors will work on financing toolkits, templates and blueprints. Efficient Buildings Europe was invited to speak at the launch.

Our Secretary General, Rémi Collombet, pointed out that around 75% of Europe’s buildings are still energy inefficient and that the annual renovation investment gap is about €149 billion. Grants alone cannot close it. Public money should leverage private capital, and grants should go where they are most needed, especially to vulnerable households.

The challenge is not always the availability of capital, but its affordability.

Renovation loans are often consumer loans at 8 to 10% interest, and at those rates renovation does not pay off for many homeowners. That is why Renovate Europe supports the EU Renovation Loan Facility concept. Financial products also need to match what each household can repay, as the Coalition’s national hubs have shown, particularly in Czechia.

Finally, scaling up renovation finance has to go hand in hand with implementing the EPBD, EED, ETS2 and RED, and with a better electricity-to-gas price ratio so that clean, efficient heating and cooling pays off.

Read the coverage of the launch in The Brussels Times.

Photo: © European Union, 2026