European Court of Auditors: Cost-effectiveness does not guide EU spending on energy efficiency in buildings (GEN – 1109.00)

The European Court of Auditors’ recent Special Report ‘Energy efficiency in buildings’ shows that EU-funded projects still do not focus on achieving the greatest potential energy savings per euro invested. Although the Commission has issued extensive guidance for improving energy efficiency investments in buildings including their cost-effectiveness, audited Member States allocated budget to projects on a first-come first-served basis, without weighing relative costs and benefits.