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Ex-post Evaluation of ERDF and CF Support to Energy Efficiency Interventions

Findings in Public and Residential Buildings across EU Member States

Xavier Le Den, Miguel Riviere, Franziska Lessmann, Martin Nesbit, Kamila Paquel, Andrea Illes
Keywords: evaluation, energy efficiency interventions, ERDF, CF, cohesion fund, european regional development fund


This paper presents the findings of the ex-post evaluation of EU Cohesion Policy support to energy efficiency investment in public and residential buildings financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Cohesion Fund during the 2007-2013 programming period. The programming period was largely a learning experience for both managing authorities and the European Commission when it came to energy efficiency interventions in public and residential buildings. The evaluation revealed that the quality of the interventions varied substantially across programmes, with a significant number of managing authorities providing an unclear rationale for the intervention and a weak link to the type of intervention supported, financing instruments used and indicators chosen. Accordingly, target setting and actual achievements of the interventions also varied substantially across programmes. Traceability and comparability of achievements across programmes was therefore limited. Nevertheless, the evaluators were able to derive a number of interesting findings and policy implications for the 2014-2020 funding period. Among them were the need to improve the quality of the monitoring systems, improve intervention design (clearer formulation of the rationale for support, clearer link from rationale to instruments and selection criteria), diversify the type of interventions supported and instruments used (i.e. to not only make use of grants for investments in building renovations), make more extensive use of energy efficiency audits (in order to better be able to measure progress) and ensure good inter-agency communication and peer-learning.

Xavier Le Den is Business Manager of the EU Department at Ramboll Management Consulting (Ramboll) in Brussels. For correspondence: xald@ramboll.com. Miguel Riviere is Consultant at Ramboll Management Consulting in Hamburg. For correspondence: miguel.riviere@ramboll.com. Franziska Lessmann is Consultant at Ramboll Management Consulting in Brussels. For correspondence: fran@ramboll.com. Martin Nesbit is Senior Fellow and Head of Climate and Environmental Governance Programme at the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) in London. For correspondence mnesbit@ieep.eu. Dr. Kamila Paquel is Senior Policy Analyst at the IEEP in Brussels. For correspondence: kpaquel@ieep.eu. Andrea Illes is Policy Analyst at the IEEP in London. For correspondence: ailles@ieep.eu. The views expressed in this article are personal.

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