ZEROCO2 awarded additional funds to continue on its decarbonisation journey

04 Nov ZEROCO2 awarded additional funds to continue on its decarbonisation journey

From 2016 to 2020, the Interreg Europe ZEROCO2 project defined Near Zero CO₂ Emission Buildings due to energy use (NZCO2EB). The project presented various benefits, which resulted from various types of building. The original project demonstrated the combination of different technologies and energy efficiency sources – these technologies could be used to achieve the set carbon reduction targets to design tailored policies, which promoted NZCO2EB at the local, regional, national and EU level.

ZEROCO2 also presented various financial methodologies in order to promote these types of buildings. The ZEROCO2 project has recently received additional EU Interreg Europe funds to continue its applauded work in increasing awareness of and sharing best practices in the realm of decarbonisation technologies for buildings. The extension of ZEROC02 shall move another step forward targeting the decarbonisation agenda, net zero policies, including the EU Green Deal, by addressing policy instruments to optimise allocated recovery funds with a focus on deep renovation of public and residential buildings.

The international consortium shall continue to work together toward promoting decarbonising building technologies. For the next 12 months, the extended ZEROCO2 project shall continue to make waves in the field of energy efficiency in buildings, extending beyond its original aims, established in 2016, to meet the EU target to reduce emissions by 20% by 2020. The ZEROCO2 project shall continue to decouple economic growth from the use of resources and support the shift towards decarbonisation, increased use of renewable energy sources and promotion of energy efficiency – this time, on the path toward net zero carbon economy by 2050.

EIfI-Tech’s role in the project

With the year-long project extension, the international consortium is joined by external expert, EIfI-Tech. Based in Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany and working across a wide array of European funding programmes, EIfI-Tech shall undertake the communication and dissemination services required for the successful implementation of the project. EIfI-Tech shall build on the previous communication strategy in addition to maintaining the interregional learning open-source platform to allow dissemination activities that build on the project’s previous and ongoing achievements and knowledge exchange to establish greater potential for an afterlife network to engage policymakers and decision makers. EIfI-Tech will also make provision for authorities and relevant stakeholders’ opportunities to become acquainted with and better understand what can be done with respect to zero CO₂ buildings – a main goal of the project.

Project partners

1. Local Energy Agency Spodnje Podravje (LEASP) – Slovenia
2. Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania (MAICH) – Greece
3. Molise Region – Italy
4. Thermopolis Ltd. – Finland
5. Agency for Sustainable Med Cities & Territories (AVITEM) – France
6. University of Malta – Malta

External expertise: European Institute for Innovation – Technology (EIfI-Tech) – Germany