Croatia, a country of elegant contrasts. From the red and white checkerboard of its flag to the spotted coats of the dogs hailing from its Dalmatian coast or, more strikingly, the green mountains giving way to deep blue seas… This was all we needed to paint a two-tone portrait of the energy efficiency programme that JASPERS helped Croatia to develop in 2015. Since then, it has enabled local authorities and condominiums to renovate their buildings with 257 million euros of support from the European Union.

@Shutterstock/Shutterstock

The background

Black and green
The word “pollution” brings to mind traditional modes of transport and old power stations. However, did you know that buildings - publicly owned or private residences as well as company buildings and factories - use 40% of Europe's energy and produce 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions?

Croatian buildings come in above this average figure due to a lack of maintenance and investment over several decades. Having seen the break-up of Yugoslavia, war and rapid economic transition, the country’s priorities were elsewhere and until now, its means were limited.

The situation started to change on its accession to the European Union in 2013. The following year, the European Commission provided it with a 257 million euros funding envelope, with the sole objective of bringing the energy efficiency of its buildings up to the highest standards.

The EU thinks long-term; it thinks sustainability, quality of life and energy security. In short, it puts its heart, soul, laws, policies and budget into moving from an oil-based economy wasting heat and causing global warming, to a green economy based on locally generated renewable energy, used intelligently. This vision is part of the Europe 2020 strategy.

@ /Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Croatia

The challenge

Gold and blue
A 257 million euros golden envelope may be a lot, but it is not enough to transform an entire nation. This is particularly the case for a country with a multitude of historical sites that welcomes some 15 million travellers a year – when the country is not locked down due to a sanitary crisis, of course - in addition to its 4 million citizens, with all the tourist accommodation this implies.

Furthermore, how could small municipalities and families living in large apartment blocks benefit from this envelope as well, to carry out renovation, insulation or waterproofing works in their homes or buildings?

The solution chosen by the Croatian authorities was to call on JASPERS to help them to design an allocation mechanism that was practical for residents and transparent for the European Commission. An initial meeting took place in 2014 at the Ministry for Regional Development and EU Funds located in Zagreb, whose coat of arms and football jersey are blue.

@Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Croatia

The action

50 shades of green
Ensuring optimal use of Cohesion Funds is our daily bread-and-butter work, but having to gather potential projects at a national level and designing calls for applications gave this project a unique edge. A team of four JASPERS specialists got straight to work.

Identifying the different types of buildings in the country, their owners and their energy status was no mean feat. It then had to be established which could benefit from EU assistance. With the agreement of the Croatian authorities, priority was given to public buildings and residential units - both large apartment blocks and individual houses.

Lastly, the team designed model investments and standard participation rates for each. A simple procedure was put together and explained in specific application packs: one for condominiums running apartment blocks, one for mayors, school and hospital administrators and other public institutions.

Changing boilers or insulating individual flats in a residential complex, installing solar panels on the roof of a town hall or replacing the windows of a school – all of these measures could be considered as part of a comprehensive energy efficiency investment. Every step towards a deeper shade of green is a step in the right direction.

@Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Croatia

JASPERS role

Orange and grey
The orange notes of the JASPERS logo are intended to mean tailored assistance. This is what we provided. Our engineers encouraged investments adapted to every landscape – from the mild and windy Adriatic and Mediterranean coasts to the harsh winters of the mountainous east, buildings are not the same. They also considered Croatia’s History, even where recent and painful. In particular, many buildings damaged during the 1991-1995 war pose specific energy problems and constitute a specific category in the mechanism.

Lastly, for each investment type, our state aid expert resolved the issues invariably posed by the allocation of public funds in a competitive market. Armed only with a grey suit and in-depth knowledge of EU legislation, he was able to untie these legal knots for every type of investment.

@Ministry of Physical Planning, Construction and State Property, Croatia

The results

White and red
The mechanism was put in place in 2015 and made it possible to finance 1 394 projects in total, in every corner of Croatia - 542 multi-apartment buildings and 852 public buildings. The subsidies awarded to every project have been very varied, typically ranging between 50 000 and 400 000 euros. The initial envelope has now been fully disbursed, helping the country become less energy thirsty, one building at a time.

Even more so since our mechanism works in tandem with other national and international energy efficiency programmes, financed among others by the World Bank and United Nations.

When buildings are under control, there is time for other things. More poetic things, such as white Croatian lace (listed in the UNESCO world cultural heritage) or the red sunsets of Zadar, considered by Alfred Hitchcock to be the most beautiful sunsets in the world…