200 Million Euros for Energy Renovation of Multi-Apartment Buildings in 2024

For the energy renovation of multi-apartment buildings in Croatia, around 200 million euros will be secured this year, announced on Wednesday at a conference on green building renovation by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Spatial Planning, Construction and State Property Branko Bačić.

The conference on green renovation organized by the Ministry of Spatial Planning, Construction and State Property gathered around one hundred participants from various institutions dealing with energy renovation.

At the conference, Bačić and the director of the administration in his ministry Irena Križ Šelendić presented a new public call for energy renovation of multi-apartment buildings worth nearly 95 million euros, which the Ministry will announce by the end of this week.

The call will be open for about two months and will be co-financed within the framework of the NPOO 2021-2026, with the aim of achieving European quality standards for multi-apartment buildings and achieving significant annual savings in thermal energy and reducing CO2 emissions, which will contribute to the decarbonization of buildings. It was also indicated that the co-financing of the renovation will range from 60 to 80 percent of the required amount, and applications will be scored and decisions made based on that.

Bačić hopes that the competition will bring a lot to citizens and companies participating in the renovation. He explained that the public call is actually worth more than 95 million euros, which comes from the EU fund or NPOO, as an additional “national” 80 million euros will be secured from the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund. This brings the total to 200 million euros.

He recalled the energy renovation from 2014 to 2020 when 1,400 buildings were renovated, of which more than 800 were in the public sector (kindergartens, schools, museums, hospitals, and others), as well as 550 multi-apartment buildings with about 16 thousand apartments, which he assessed as a huge number.

Both he and the director of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund Luka Balen are satisfied with the quick response to the previous public call for energy renovation of family houses.

– In a few hours, 12 thousand citizens applied, and thus the historic amount of 120 million euros allocated for that purpose practically ‘vanished’ in just a few hours. This means that our citizens are aware of the importance of energy renovation of houses, as such houses are worth more and save more, and according to some data, energy-related utility bills can be reduced by up to 60 percent – emphasized Bačić.

Habijan: Green Transition in Focus of Future Government

Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Damir Habijan emphasized that energy renovation projects will continue, believing that citizens need to be better explained what the terms decarbonization and green transition mean.

– I am sure that the multiannual financial framework 2021-2027 and the period after that will contain these terms and funds for green transition projects and will be in focus in the EU, as well as the future Croatian government – said Habijan.

He believes that all these processes “can always be better and faster,” but also that Croatia is on the right path, even for renewable energy sources, in which, he said, “from 2021 to 2024, we installed more than 3,300 megawatts of power.

– We are doing a lot on all of this, especially with geothermal sources, which are one of the larger potentials for renewable energy sources – added Habijan.

The conference was also attended by the acting head of the European Commission Representation in Croatia Andrea Čović Vidović, who emphasized that multi-apartment buildings are individually the largest consumers of energy in Europe, accounting for about 40 percent of total consumption, and emit the most greenhouse gases, about 36 percent of total emissions.

– This means that addressing their energy renovation is important for both the future and energy savings. We must reconsider how we build homes, houses, and neighborhoods, how sustainable and accessible they are to all citizens, and in doing so, we also fight against poverty in the EU – said Čović Vidović.