Alongside subsidies and grants, a standard policy instrument for supporting building energy efficiency upgrades is tax credits. In this study, we assess the case of Greece, which uses both subsidies and tax credits for energy efficiency improvement interventions in residential buildings. We conducted both a socio-economic and a cost–benefit analysis including environmental, multiple benefits, macroeconomic, and private perspectives. Drawing upon data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority including the Households Budget Survey, Eurostat and the Greek National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP), we built a model that evaluates how different tax credits scenarios interact with households’ characteristics. This way, we divided households using a clustering method, based on income, size, and energy use patterns. We explored how clusters and tax credits interact within a baseline, a low macroeconomic return and a high macroeconomic return scenario. The paper concludes that the optimal tax credit rate for middle and high-income households ranges from 40 to 52
Managed forests occupy a large area of land, with almost 30% of the world’s forests designated primarily for production. Management can alter a forest’s carbon storage to a considerable extent, via tree species selection, planting and thinning density, selective logging, and wood harvesting. Forest management can also impact biophysical variables like canopy roughness, evapotranspiration, and surface albedo, which can produce strong effects on local warming or cooling. In addition, forest management is increasingly seen as a key component of many countries’ climate mitigation planning and a component of Net Zero targets. However, Earth System Models (ESMs) used to produce climate projections have historically contained limited functionality to represent processes relevant to forest management, meaning that the coupled-system consequences of these interventions remain underexplored. In recent years significant advances have been made to simulate forest management in dynamic global vegetation models (DGVMs) and land surface models (LSMs), the offline land surface components of ESMs. These include adding features to represent wood harvest; options to allow users additional control over forest plantation; plant functional types (PFTs) tuned specifically to represent common tree species used in forestry; and more detailed representation of forest demography (allowing for age- or size-specific growth, harvesting and mortality). In this paper, we summarize these developments and make the case for their usage in operational ESM configurations, so that the impacts of forest management on the climate, and the importance of forest management for climate mitigation, are properly represented in next generation climate projections.
Heritage-sensitive decarbonisation requires governance approaches that reconcile technical feasibility, cultural preservation, and collective decision-making. This study investigates how Living Labs (LLs) can facilitate the formation of negotiated decarbonisation pathways and inform adaptive policy frameworks such as regulatory sandboxes. The research applies a qualitative case study of the Terrassenhaussiedlung (THS) in Graz, Austria—a modernist housing estate and demonstration site within the Horizon Europe DeCO2 (decarbonisation in buildings) project. Data were derived from twelve workshops, document analysis, and field observations conducted during the LL’s establishment phase. Findings were coded thematically and mapped onto the Dynamic Decarbonisation Framework (DDF). Five interlinked process mechanisms were identified: (1) knowledge negotiation, translating technical and legal concepts into resident-relevant terms; (2) productive tensions, driving innovation through conflict resolution; (3) governance, enabling legitimate collective decisions via sociocratic methods; (4) barriers and enablers, integrating temporal, financial, and regulatory dimensions; and (5) learning and reflexivity, ensuring continuity and adaptation. Heritage-sensitive decarbonisation advances through iterative alignment across technological, social, and policy domains. The study refines the DDF by demonstrating how LLs inform and can potentially form complementary, adaptive governance mechanisms linking technological feasibility, social legitimacy, and regulatory learning.
This report, developed within the LOCATEE project, lays the conceptual foundation for addressing energy poverty in Europe, with particular attention to the challenges posed by private multi-apartment buildings (MABs). It reviews EU, national, and local policy frameworks, and highlights barriers such as poor building performance, fragmented ownership and decision-making, financing gaps, and limited municipal capacity that constrain effective energy poverty alleviation. A systematic review of more than 50 local initiatives across Europe illustrates both promising practices and persistent shortcomings, particularly the lack of robust monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The analysis underscores the importance of multi-level collaboration and the critical role of municipalities, civil society organizations, and housing entities as intermediaries in linking policy objectives with on-the-ground delivery. By bringing together this knowledge, the Deliverable provides an important step in structuring the LOCATEE approach and toolkit, which will serve to strengthen local governance capacities and support evidence-based, inclusive, and context-sensitive solutions. This conceptual groundwork also sets the stage for the in-depth work to be carried out in the pilot municipalities in Greece, Poland, and Portugal ensuring that subsequent project activities are firmly rooted in both European experience and local realities.
Micro-enterprises represent major share of EU firms and account for almost 19.8
