EU-Wide Advantages & Opportunities of LIFE-2025-CET-OSS

The LIFE Clean Energy Transition call "One-Stop-Shops – Integrated services for clean energy transition in buildings" (LIFE-2025-CET-OSS) offers a unique, EU-level platform for accelerating deep renovation services. Leveraging the Union’s scale multiplies technical, financial and political benefits that would be unattainable through purely national action.

1. Single Market Access (450 + million consumers)

• Deploying OSS in multiple Member States opens a market of ~215 million residential dwellings, 75 % of which were built before modern efficiency standards.

• Common branding and shared digital tools (e.g. multi-lingual renovation journey apps) allow immediate roll-out in border regions with similar building typologies (e.g. Benelux, Alpine, Nordic).

• Pan-EU presence increases bargaining power with manufacturers and installers, lowering material costs by 5-10 % through bulk procurement and framework contracts compliant with EU public procurement rules.

2. Cross-Border Collaboration & Knowledge Exchange

• Consortia can combine frontrunner regions (e.g. Flanders, Île-de-France, Upper Austria) with emerging markets in CEE/Southern EU, fast-tracking capacity building via twinning and staff secondments.

• Mandatory cooperation with EU-PEERS provides a ready-made community of >350 OSS practitioners, shortening ramp-up time.

• Joint development of standardised BIM-based energy audits, Building Renovation Passports and consumer-protection templates reduces duplication and speeds replication.

3. Alignment with Flagship EU Policies

• Directly supports the European Green Deal, Renovation Wave and REPowerEU targets (doubling renovation rates, cutting gas demand by 30 %).

• Helps Member States deliver new provisions in revised EPBD (minimum energy performance standards & zero-emission buildings) and EED Article 22 OSS obligations.

• Contributes to Fit-for-55 GHG reductions and taxonomy-aligned sustainable economic activities—enhancing investor confidence.

4. Regulatory Harmonisation & De-Risking

• EU directives create converging rules for EPCs, smart readiness indicators and sustainable finance disclosure; OSS can develop “one regulatory toolbox” deployable in all MS, lowering legal advisory costs by 20-30 %.

• EU-wide standards for energy performance guarantee contracts (CEN/CENELEC) make cross-border portfolios bankable, unlocking institutional capital.

5. Access to the Pan-European Innovation Ecosystem

• Links to Digital Europe, Horizon Europe Built4People and EIT Climate-KIC allow OSS to pilot AI-driven audit tools, blockchain-based material passports and circular renovation concepts.

• Collaboration with EU research infrastructures (e.g. JRC Energy Efficiency Labs, Fraunhofer IBP) provides state-of-the-art testing and validation services.

• Participation in Skills Alliance initiatives under Pact for Skills ensures a pipeline of qualified “renovation managers” recognised across EU.

6. Funding Synergies & Financial Leverage

• LIFE grant (95 % funding rate) can be blended with:

- Recovery & Resilience Facility (RRF) allocations dedicated to building renovation.

- InvestEU “Sustainable Infrastructure” window for up-scaling successful OSS to investment platforms (>€300 m ticket size).

- ERDF/ESF+ for local workforce upskilling and digital tools.

- Horizon Europe for R&D of digital twins and industrialised renovation modules.

• Demonstrated LIFE pipeline can be securitised through Green Covered Bonds aligned with forthcoming EU Green Bond Standard, lowering cost of capital by 25–50 bp.

7. Scale, Replicability & Impact Potential

• KPIs required by the call (energy/GHG savings, investment triggered) are directly comparable across Member States, enabling a robust EU-level impact narrative attractive to investors and policymakers.

• OSS blueprints can be embedded in at least 18 National Building Renovation Plans (submitted under EPBD), influencing >€150 bn in programmed public expenditure.

• Community model (Scope C) facilitates swift diffusion—target of >50 active OSS covering 70 % of EU population within five years after project end.

8. Strategic Actions to Maximise EU Value

1. Form a multilateral consortium covering North-West, Central-Eastern and Southern Europe to capture diverse building stock and financing contexts.

2. Standardise core processes (audit, offer, contracting, QA) under an OSS “EU Service Charter”; secure CEN endorsement for long-term harmonisation.

3. Integrate EU Taxonomy compliance checks into client journey, future-proofing investments against regulatory risk.

4. Pool data via an EU-wide Renovation Data Space (aligned with the common European data space for energy) to enable benchmarking and AI-driven service improvements.

5. Leverage InvestEU advisory to structure a cross-border renovation investment facility fed by project pipelines from local OSS.

6. Advocate jointly during EPBD transposition to embed OSS roles in national legislation, ensuring post-project policy anchoring.

> Bottom line: Operating at EU scale through LIFE-2025-CET-OSS multiplies market reach, reduces transactional costs, unlocks larger pools of capital and embeds renovation services in a cohesive policy framework—maximising both environmental impact and long-term business viability.