European Court of Auditors. Special report 20/2026: Improving the energy efficiency of private homes with the RRF – Broad financial support, but weaknesses in the foundations.
A quarter of energy consumption in the EU comes from residential buildings. The Recovery and Resilience Facility has allocated €43 billion to improving the energy efficiency of these buildings and reducing energy consumption. Our work identified shortcomings in the set-up of the measures, which did not directly target deep renovations. We also found delays in implementation and weaknesses in monitoring the measures’ performance. Information on energy savings was not reliable, comparable or detailed enough and the cost-effectiveness of building renovations was not tracked. Our recommendations aim to improve the targeting of renovation measures, the reliability of reported energy savings and the evaluation of the measures’ results and cost-effectiveness.