The ODYSSEE-MURE project aims to support policy makers in EU Member States to fulfill their obligations in the framework of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). In particular, it provides user-friendly databases and web-tools for monitoring and evaluating the impact of energy efficiency policies. The ODYSSEE database and facilities contain and analyse latest available energy consumption and energy efficiency indicators by sector, end-use in households and services, by mode in transport. The MURE database and facilities contain and analyse energy efficiency policies and measures by sector. These tools have been conceived in the past and will be extended under this project by an experienced team comprising national energy efficiency agencies from 28 EU Member States (plus Norway, Switzerland and Serbia), and a strong technical coordination. Future inclusion of Balkan countries will be prepared under this project. We enhance, update and modernise these tools for support to the Member States through regional and national training events as well as dissemination products such as country/sector profiles, newsletters, policy briefs and webinars. In addition, we focus on operationalising the Energy Efficiency First Principle (EE1-P) for the MS, which is a key requirement in the EU Energy Union Governance Regulation . We will develop an indicator-based approach to EE1, considering wider aspects such as (1) New Societal Trends (e.g. the Shared Economy) which may increase or reduce energy demand, (2) Energy poverty, (3) the multiple benefits of energy efficiency. We will disseminate the analysis developed in this project to national bodies, inter alia by dissmeinating the outputs at key conferences (such as the eceee conferences).

MultEE aims to improve the ease and quality of energy efficiency (EE) policy planning and implementation in the project’s partner countries and beyond, addressing the challenges of evidence-based policy-making in a multi-level governance setting. It contributes to making EE and sustainable energy planning vertically consistent between the national, regional and local level, to facilitating horizontal coordination between policy levels and to improving the quality of monitoring energy efficiency. The project pursues a two-faceted, yet integrated, approach in order to reach this objective: (1) building on a mapping of European best practices and experience from a pilot project carried out by the lead partner, country-specific solutions for effective monitoring and verification (M&V) based on bottom-up data will be developed and their implementation supported; (2) the implementation of innovative M&V schemes will be facilitated via coordination mechanisms developed and introduced together with the partners, aimed at spurring on exchange and cooperation between policy levels. The project pays particular attention to providing opportunities for peer learning between old and new EU Members States and neighbouring countries from Southeast Europe to partner countries from the EU and its South-Eastern neighbourhood as well as to disseminating results beyond partner countries and to other policy areas. One of the specificities of multEE is that its activities target the interplay between administrative levels rather than focusing on a single one of them. Particular focus will be put on capacity-building for the entities and officials involved with EE planning in the partner countries. MultEE will be put in practice by experienced partners within a strong consortium led by GIZ, drawing upon solid experience and a well-established network of contacts to ensure dissemination and high impacts within and beyond the project.

The 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) establishes a set of binding measures to help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. Countries have also set their own indicative national energy efficiency targets. To reach these targets, EU countries have to implement energy efficiency policies and monitor their impact. The Commission has also the task of monitoring the impacts of the measures to check that the EU is on track with its 2020 target. The objective of the ODYSSEE MURE 2015 proposal is to contribute to this monitoring: • By updating two comprehensive databases covering each EU MS; ODYSSEE on energy consumption and energy efficiency indicators, and MURE on energy efficiency measures; • By providing new and innovative trainings and didactical documents to national, regional and local administrations in EU MS to raise their capacity and expertise in the field of energy efficiency monitoring and impact evaluation. • By extending the evaluation of the impact of energy efficiency from energy and CO2 savings, as already done in ODYSSEE, to the multiple other benefits. The updating of two databases ODYSSEE and MURE will play a key role to provide updated and centralized information required by each MS and the Commission to assess, monitor and evaluate energy efficiency progress and the state of implementation of measures and their impact. The project will provide innovative training tools and documents in a very user friendly way to public administrations to help them in implementing the monitoring of the progress achieved with indicators, in designing new policy measures and assessing the impacts of these measures, not only in terms of energy savings, but also in terms of the other benefits linked to energy efficiency improvements. Finally, the project will try to provide an assessment of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency policies for all MS combing existing evaluation and new calculations.

A consortium led by the Austrian Energy Agency (AEA) developed the project "Uptake of Solid Bioenergy in European Commercial Sectors (Industry, Trade, Agricultural and Service Sectors) – Bioenergy for Business" for the EU-Programme Horizon 2020’s Call 2014 (LCE14). The project partners include a combination of energy agencies, national biomass associations and research-oriented partners with specialized knowledge on biomass from Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe (Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands, European Biomass Association (AEBIOM), Germany, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Greece, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Ukraine). The goal of this project is to support and promote the (partial) substitution of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) used for heating, by available bioenergy sources (industrial wastes, forest biomass, straw and other agricultural biomass) in the partner countries and beyond. In this context, the project will contribute to increase much-needed security of energy supply through lower dependence on fossil fuels from politically volatile sources. Target groups are, on the one hand, owners and operators of industrial heating plants (for private or district heating). On the other hand, actors who play an important role with regard to the value chain and to framework conditions crucial for the use of bioenergy heat will also be involved. Activities will be tailored to the needs of actors relevant to promising market segments in the industrial, commercial, services and agriculture sectors. Results of the project will include information about market potentials, capacity building/training, decision-support tools and communication activities targeted at relevant stakeholder, tools to support the careful assessment, planning and implementation of such projects, and dissemination of “best-practice” business models. Additionally, information about “best practice” support measures and policies will be made available.

The Energy Savings Insurance (ESI) Europe 2.0 project aims to: (i) replicate the successful innovative financing scheme ESI (currently being implemented in Italy, Portugal and Spain with the ESI Europe funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme) in three high potential countries in Europe – Croatia, Greece & Slovakia; (ii) hold capacity building, and marketing and promotion activities targeting key market stakeholders to help them understand the model and facilitate access to EE finance; & (iii) to create tools to promote & enable the further replication of ESI across Europe. The ESI model consists of financial & non-financial mechanisms designed to work together to improve the risk-return profile of EE investments & overcome the associated barriers to stimulate the demand for EE projects. It consists of: (i) a standardised contract, which clearly establishes the setup to guarantee energy savings to the SME; (ii) a performance insurance that is used to compensate the SME in case the EE project does not reach the expected energy savings; & (iii) validation mechanisms that provides an independent assessment & verification of the project. These three mechanisms work together to create trust & credibility between actors, & convince SMEs to invest in EE. The model is supported by communications, dissemination & outreach activities, as well as capacity building & EE investment roundtables targeting key market stakeholders, including technology providers with EE solutions, financial institutions, SMEs & others, to create dialogue between the relevant stakeholders & facilitate access to EE finance. The ESI model presents a proven & unique, market based approach that makes use of distribution channels & products that are already available on the market. The ESI mechanisms is complementary to other schemes & available funding, such as green credit lines, credit guarantees, or energy audits.