We are thrilled to announce that OBSERVE, the new project funded by the European Commission and the LIFE Programme, kicked-off officially last week! The kick-off meeting, co-organised by Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy Foundation (IEECP) and EPB Center/ REHVA, was held on November 20–21 in Brussels, Belgium.
The lack of reliable and high-quality data in the building sector, the disparities regarding the type and quality of data among Member States and the lack of standard approaches and templates for data collection, management, and reporting create an urgent need for more efficient and well-established data procedures through the European Union (EU). This has also been reported in the European Commission’s Staff Working Document “Analysis of the national long-term renovation strategies” making difficult to compare the effect of different national measures and assess their cumulative and quantitative impacts.
The recent recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) introduces key provisions for the promotion of a more reliable and transparent data framework in the EU, including a direct collaborative framework between the EU Buildings Stock Observatory and Member States.
Among other European, national, or local initiatives that aim to support Member States in collecting and providing data related to the building sector, Member States should make best use of ongoing EU-funded projects, like OBSERVE.
OBSERVE seeks to address the need for a systematic method of gathering and aggregating quality data by developing innovative data collection methodologies and strategies. OBSERVE will evaluate the data collection procedures and databases established at both the national and the European levels to identify best practices and malfunctions.
OBSERVE will assist national authorities to optimise data collection methods and streamline the coordination of all relevant bodies and enhance synergies and interactions between Member States’ stakeholders and the EU Building Stock Observatory (EU BSO). OBSERVE will directly support six (6) Member States (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain) and further spread good practices and governance models to other EU countries.
OBSERVE will also promote the sharing of best practices and virtuous processes among Member States to facilitate the collection of national building stock data that is beneficial both to individual Member States and to the EU as a whole.
During the meeting, we had the opportunity to meet in person with our partners, align our project’s goals, discuss next steps and set the foundation for achieving impactful outcomes. Dr. Vassilis Stavrakas and Chrysanthi Anagnostopoulou presented our team’s contributions throughout the project.
As part of OBSERVE, our team will:
- Lead the stakeholder gap and need analysis for the national BSOs!
- Contribute to designing dataset structures and architectures for efficient implementation!
- Contribute to synthesising policy outcomes tailored to national contexts!
This marks an exciting start to what promises to be a transformative project for sustainable and data-driven policymaking. We are looking forward to collaborating with our amazing partners for the next three (3) years!
Follow OBSERVE, as we share updates on our progress, insights, and milestones!
