A bottom-up renovation: Why do we need this revolution?

Europe's transition to climate neutrality hinges on the transformation of its building stock. Residential buildings remain among the most energy-intensive sectors, with space heating alone accounting for over 60% of household energy consumption in the European Union. Despite growing awareness and political commitment, the sector is still heavily reliant on fossil fuels, primarily natural gas and oil, to meet heating, hot water, and cooking needs. This situation presents both a challenge and a clear opportunity for decarbonization. 

The European Green Deal sets ambitious targets for emissions reduction, energy efficiency, and the integration of renewable energy. Achieving these objectives will require deep renovations of approximately 195 million homes across the EU. However, large-scale transformation cannot be achieved through top-down policies alone. It must involve local actors, empower citizens, and respond to the specific needs of communities. In this context, citizen-led renovation has emerged as a powerful approach to drive sustainable change from the ground up. 

One-stop-shops tailored to empower citizens to overcome renovation issues 

Citizen-led renovation refers to initiatives – such as the Support service for Citizen-led renovation (CLR) initiative now in its third phase - conducted by civil society, often without direct public sector mandates, which engage households in improving the energy performance of their homes. These efforts are typically coordinated through local cooperatives, energy communities or neighbourhood groups and are supported by partnerships with municipalities, energy agencies, technical experts, and financial institutions. At their core, these initiatives aim to give citizens ownership over the renovation process while fostering trust and long-term engagement. 

A key advantage of this model is its ability to overcome many of the barriers currently faced by homeowners, including lack of technical knowledge, limited financial resources and difficulty accessing trusted service providers. By acting as facilitators and intermediaries, citizen-led initiatives guide households through the renovation journey, offering assistance with planning, financing, implementation, and post-renovation evaluation. This is often done through integrated “one-stop-shop” services, tailored to local needs. 

Citizen-led renovation transforms neighbourhoods and fight energy poverty 

Notably, many citizen-led renovation programmes place a strong emphasis on addressing energy poverty, offering targeted support to vulnerable households which may be unable to afford energy upgrades without assistance. These programmes do not merely reduce emissions: they contribute to improved living conditions, lower energy bills and greater social equity. 

Another critical feature of this approach is the shift toward area-based renovation strategies. Rather than focusing on individual buildings, citizen-led programmes often coordinate renovations at the street, neighbourhood or district level. This enables economies of scale, maximizes cost-effectiveness, and generates shared community benefits, such as enhanced public spaces, job creation and strengthened social cohesion. 

Energy communities are particularly well-positioned to lead these efforts. As trusted, locally embedded entities, they facilitate collaboration among stakeholders, provide accessible technical expertise, and ensure long-term stewardship of energy infrastructure. By integrating citizen-led renovations with renewable energy generation for self-consumption, they also help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and enhance local energy resilience. 

The support that citizen-led initiatives need 

The effectiveness of these initiatives is closely linked to supportive policy and regulatory frameworks. Member States must establish enabling conditions, including legal recognition of citizen-led initiatives, access to affordable financing, and alignment with national and EU-level renovation strategies. Encouragingly, there is growing momentum across Europe, as governments begin to recognise the role of citizen-led renovation in meeting the objectives of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). 

Ultimately, the success of the European Green Deal depends not only on innovation and investment but also on democratic participation and inclusive, multi-level governance. Citizen-led renovation represents a vital mechanism for advancing the energy transition in a socially just, locally grounded, and participatory manner. It is not simply an alternative approach: it is a necessary revolution that places people at the heart of Europe’s climate agenda. 

Support service for Citizen-led renovation – The new phase of the EU initiative  

The third phase of CLR focuses on scaling up by building a network of organisations — including energy agencies, one-stop-shops for home renovation, energy communities, and associations — to foster the widespread adoption of citizen-led renovation across Europe.  

Stay tuned to find out which five additional enabling structures have been selected to join the initiative and deliver support services in their territories! 

Sources: European Building Stock Analysis; EUROSTAT; REScoop.eu; European Parliament.