Energy renovation solutions - Making buildings’ renovation faster, deeper, affordable, smarter, service- and data-driven

The LIFE-2025-CET-BETTERRENO grant is part of the EU's LIFE Clean Energy Transition program, focusing on accelerating energy-efficient building renovations through innovative and data-driven solutions. The grant is available to various legal entities based in the EU or associated countries, including small and medium-sized enterprises, non-profit organizations, public authorities, and research institutions. A consortium of at least three applicants from different eligible countries is required to apply.

This funding opportunity operates as a grant with a 95% EU co-funding rate, offering a maximum contribution of up to €1.75 million per project. The application process is a single-stage open call, with submissions due by September 23, 2025. The projects should aim for validation and demonstration of solutions that are replicable and scalable, contributing to the overarching goals of the EU Renovation Wave strategy and addressing building decarbonization targets.

The targeted sectors include energy efficiency in buildings, and the projects may involve various themes like reducing market barriers and improving data quality tied to building performance. Successfully addressing these objectives could result in improved renovation rates and greater cooperation among market players.

The application must demonstrate a measurable impact and provide a clear delineation of how the project outcomes will contribute to specific indicators defined by the grant. Co-funding is necessary, and robust collaboration across multiple countries is encouraged to enhance overall project effectiveness. The focus on buildings, which account for a significant proportion of EU's total energy consumption, highlights the strategic significance of this grant in advancing the EU's climate goals.

This EU funding opportunity is part of the LIFE Clean Energy Transition (CET) call under the Programme for Environment and Climate Action (LIFE). The specific topic, LIFE-2025-CET-BETTERRENO, focuses on energy renovation solutions aimed at making building renovations faster, deeper, more affordable, smarter, service-driven, and data-driven. It is a LIFE Project Grant (LIFE-PJG) with a budget-based LIFE Action Grant (LIFE-AG) model. The call adopts a single-stage submission process. The opening date for submissions is April 24, 2025, and the deadline for submission is September 23, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

The overall objective of this funding is to contribute to the EU Renovation Wave strategy and support the implementation of current and future building policies, including the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the New European Bauhaus initiative. The funding aims to address key areas for achieving EU targets for decarbonizing buildings by developing and deploying approaches that enhance the attractiveness and cost-effectiveness of building upgrades, reduce administrative burdens, and improve the quality of data used for building policies. Synergies with other EU programs like Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe are encouraged.

The scope of the call is divided into two main areas:

Scope A: Fostering energy renovations and competitiveness. This scope focuses on:

1. Increasing renovation rates to achieve a fully decarbonized, zero-emission building stock by 2050. Projects should remove market barriers, stimulate demand, scale up energy renovations, deploy replicable strategies and business models, and support high-quality renovations with energy performance guarantees. This includes engaging all actors in the renovation value chain. Projects can also consider reducing lifecycle emissions and increasing resilience against climate risks.

2. Improving the capacity and productivity of companies in the construction sector, particularly SMEs, to deliver faster, high-quality, and cost-reduced energy renovations. This involves integrating new products, materials, and processes, adopting industrialized processes, standardizing solutions, and using digital solutions to increase labor productivity. Activities can address various stages of the renovation process, from design to execution, and facilitate coordination among supply chain actors. Market uptake of circular and low-carbon solutions is also encouraged.

Scope B: Building instruments, data, and services. This scope focuses on:

Improving the availability, quality, and accuracy of building data to enhance the reliability of policy instruments like Energy Performance Certificates (EPC), Renovation Passports (RP), and the Smart Readiness Indicator (SRI). Actions should also explore the use of building data, especially energy consumption data, for developing and financing services that improve energy performance and comfort. Technological solutions can be used as enablers, but should not be the central focus. Specific areas include:

Developing approaches to improve the quality and consistency of data for EPCs.
Improving the reliability and usefulness of EPCs and RPs to enhance the market value of energy performance and comfort.
Supporting the roll-out of Renovation Passports for buildings.
Promoting the use of digital tools for assessing energy performance and coordinating EPCs, RPs, and the Smart Readiness Indicator.
Developing methodologies for robust data collection and integration to facilitate financing of energy renovations.

Expected Impacts and Indicators:

Proposals must present concrete results and demonstrate how these results contribute to topic-specific impacts. This includes a detailed analysis of the starting point, well-substantiated assumptions, and clear causality links between results and expected impacts. Quantification of results and impacts is required, using provided indicators and proposing additional specific indicators. Impacts should be quantified for the end of the project and for 5 years after.

For Scope A, the expected impacts include increased demand for energy renovation, higher renovation rates, implementation of demand aggregation strategies, viable business models for renovations, and improved capacity of companies. Indicators include increased renovation numbers/rates, deep renovation numbers/rates, reduction of renovation costs, investments triggered, and the number of companies with improved capacity and integration of new practices.

For Scope B, the expected impacts include improved reliability and consistency of EPCs, increased uptake of EPCs, improved data availability and accuracy, better quality and cost-effectiveness of inspections, and uptake of improved methodologies for measuring benefits. Indicators include the number of references using more accurate EPCs, the number of improved EPC schemes tested/deployed, the number of innovative assessment procedures developed, and the number of references using improved building performance data.

Common indicators for both scopes include primary and final energy savings, renewable energy generation, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and investments in sustainable energy triggered by the project.

Conditions for Participation:

Proposals must be submitted by at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries, not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries. The Commission suggests requesting EU contributions of up to EUR 2 million, but other amounts can be proposed. The funding rate is 95% for Other Action Grants (OAGs).

The call document outlines several conditions related to admissibility, eligibility, financial and operational capacity, exclusion criteria, submission and evaluation processes, award criteria, and the legal and financial setup of grants.

Additional Information:

Applicants are encouraged to explore synergies with other EU programs and to seek support from their National Contact Point (NCP). The Funding & Tenders Portal provides FAQs, IT helpdesk support, an online manual, info session recordings, and presentations. Partner search announcements are available on the portal to facilitate collaboration.

In summary, this LIFE Clean Energy Transition call aims to stimulate innovative and effective solutions for accelerating and improving building renovations across Europe. It targets both market-driven approaches (Scope A) and improvements to building data and assessment tools (Scope B), with a strong emphasis on transnational cooperation and measurable impacts on energy savings, emissions reduction, and investment in sustainable energy. The call seeks to support projects that can demonstrate clear pathways to achieving the EU's ambitious decarbonization goals for the building sector.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are not explicitly defined in the provided text. However, based on the context, eligible applicants could include actors in the renovation value chain such as building owners, investors, occupants, public and decision-making authorities, financial institutions, construction sector representatives, SMEs, and professional organizations/associations. The requirement for at least 3 applicants from 3 different eligible countries suggests that a variety of organizations can participate.

Funding Type: The funding type is a grant, specifically LIFE Project Grants (LIFE-PJG) and Other Action Grants (OAGs). The funding rate is 95% for Other Action Grants. The type of Model Grant Agreement is LIFE Action Grant Budget-Based [LIFE-AG].

Consortium Requirement: A consortium is required. Proposals must be submitted by at least 3 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities) from 3 different eligible countries.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility is not explicitly defined, but the text indicates that the implementation of activities is expected to happen in more than one eligible country. The eligible countries are described in section 6 of the call document.

Target Sector: The target sector is energy, specifically focusing on the decarbonisation of buildings through energy renovations. This includes improving energy performance, indoor environmental quality, and resilience against climate risks. It also touches upon the construction sector, data, and digital solutions related to building energy performance.

Mentioned Countries: No specific countries are mentioned, but the opportunity requires transnational actions and mutual learning, with implementation expected in more than one eligible country. This suggests a focus on EU member states and potentially associated countries.

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on development and deployment, with an emphasis on scaling up existing solutions, removing market barriers, and stimulating demand for energy renovations. The projects should present concrete results and demonstrate how these results will contribute to the topic-specific impacts.

Funding Amount: The Commission considers that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of up to EUR 2 million would allow the specific objectives to be addressed appropriately. However, this does not preclude submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts. The total budget for each topic varies, ranging from EUR 4 million to EUR 15 million.

Application Type: The application type is an open call, with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: Beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned.

Co-funding Requirement: Co-funding is not explicitly mentioned, but the funding rate for Other Action Grants is 95%, implying that 5% co-funding is expected from other sources.

Summary:

This opportunity is a call for proposals under the LIFE Clean Energy Transition sub-programme, focusing on energy renovation solutions for buildings. The goal is to support the EU Renovation Wave strategy and achieve ambitious EU targets for decarbonising buildings. The call is structured around two scopes: Scope A focuses on fostering energy renovations and competitiveness by removing market barriers, stimulating demand, and improving the capacity of the construction sector. Scope B focuses on building instruments, data, and services to improve the availability, quality, and accuracy of building data, particularly related to Energy Performance Certificates, Renovation Passports, and the Smart Readiness Indicator.

Projects should aim to develop and deploy approaches that increase the attractiveness and cost-effectiveness of building performance upgrades, reduce administrative burdens, and improve the reliability of building data. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of at least 3 applicants from 3 different eligible countries. The EU contribution is expected to be up to EUR 2 million per project, although other amounts can be requested. The funding rate is 95% for Other Action Grants. The call is a single-stage submission process, with the deadline for submissions on September 23, 2025. The call aims to trigger transnational actions and mutual learning, with the implementation of activities expected in multiple eligible countries. The overall objective is to accelerate the energy transition in the building sector by promoting innovative solutions, improving data quality, and fostering collaboration among various stakeholders.