Ren-on-Bill’s overall objective is to scale up investments towards deep energy renovations (ER) of residential buildings by promoting the development and implementation of On-Bill Financing schemes, based on the cooperation between energy utilities and financial institutions. On-Bill Financing (OBF) is a method of financing ER investments that draws on utility bills as repayment vehicle. OBF has been in use for more than 30 years, and it is especially widespread in the USA and Canada, where it significantly drives the building renovation market, with over 1 billion $ investments reached by 2013. Compared to traditional loans, default rates have been found to be lower, thus making OBF a lower risk instrument for investors. In Europe, although a few attempts have been made, OBF has not yet had a significant impact on the residential energy efficiency building renovation market. In detail, the project will: - Analyse and define the residential building ER and OBF market context to enable replication of suitable OBF schemes across Europe; - Engage key stakeholders (in particular energy utilities, financial institutions, representatives of the final user and ER market side) through national stakeholder platforms; - Develop tools to structure the residential sector’s ER financing demand allowing allows utilities and financial institutions to assess ER investments based on a transparent methodology and to bundle investments accordingly; - Develop suitable utility business models for the deployment of deep energy renovation OBF schemes for residential buildings in Europe; - Implement selected OBF business models at the 3 Ren-on-Bill partner utilities through a collaboration for strategic development of pilot on-bill financing schemes; - Exploit the insights gained over the project horizon to support European-wide dissemination of knowledge on OBF schemes towards utilities, financial institutions and policy-makers.

The SHERLOCK project aims to boost innovation at European level by designing and implementing an original and advanced educational framework based on microcredentials for upskilling the workforce and lifelong learning. It will integrate and combine a multidisciplinary green and digital skills portfolio towards the cooperation and knowledge exchange flow across different stakeholders, bolstering job creations and supporting the ambitious target of mass energy building retrofitting. Fostering retrofitting in the building sector, which accounts for 40% of the EU primary energy consumption and 35% of the carbon emissions, is paramount to achieve the EU decarbonisation targets by 2050. This requires a skilled workforce able to navigate through the multidisciplinary dimensions of building energy retrofitting, encompassing both technical, financial, and societal aspects.SHERLOCK aims to tackle this challenge by creating a MOOC-based MicroMaster programme and a VET oriented short training course based on microcredentials and case study education, targeting students and professionals from both the building energy retrofitting and financial sectors. The project will help overcome the skills mismatch between financial operators and project developers. The programme will be codesigned with VET providers and stakeholders through the setup and deployment of the SHERLOCK Knowledge Centres, which will act as a reference point for exchanging ideas and as a lasting alliance between universities, businesses, VET providers and public institutions. SHERLOCK will define the learning objectives, design the programme content & materials, implement and monitor the acquisition of the green and digital skills required in the building energy renovation sector. Finally, it will develop guidelines for educators in higher education institutions and VET providers on how to co-design and implement innovative MicroMaster programmes to support lifelong learning and upskilling of the labour market.