Launch of the EU-funded “ProRetro” project

In mid-June 2020, the project partners of the ProRetro project, coordinated by the Wuppertal Institute, met for a virtual kick-off meeting and officially started their work on the project. The objective of ProRetro is to develop and test so-called one-stop-shops for energy efficiency refurbishments in the five cities of Berlin, Böblingen, Bottrop, Hanover, and Wuppertal. The European Union has high hopes for One-stop-shops, as they will support to achieve the ambitious targets for more climate-friendly residential buildings.

Dr. Stefan Thomas, Director of the Energy, Transport and Climate Policy Division at the Wuppertal Institute, explains that “renovations are very complex projects for building owners. Prior to refurbishments, such as replacing windows, installing insulation or a new heating system, energy consultants have to be found, subsidies obtained, financing applied for and various installation contractors commissioned. One-stop-shops can be a great relief here, as they combine all these tasks in one hand.”
One-stop-shops are also the first or even single contact for building owners who are willing to renovate their buildings and organise the upcoming tasks within the scope of energy efficiency renovations. How much the one-stop-shop offers depends on the customer’s wishes.

While the first half of the project serves to develop business models and to build up the necessary networks, in the second half of the project the first test customers will take advantage of the one-stop-shop services. ProRetro aims to establish the tested business models in the long term. In addition, ProRetro will share its experiences with policy-makers and stimulate the transfer of the business models to other regions in Germany and the EU.