The European Commission placed Portugal on the spotlight when presenting the country as an example in the report on energy renovation at the service of citizens, stressing relevant challenges in housing and the progress achieved with the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF).

The European document indicates that more than 75% of Portuguese residential buildings have an energy rating of C or lower and that around 17.5% of the population find it difficult to heat up their homes. These challenges have been addressed by the RRF with visible results, states the European Commission.

According to the European Commission’s report, Portugal has already driven more than 85 thousand energy renovations in residential building, has set up a national body to monitor energy poverty, defined public policy, and developed assistance for vulnerable households. The document also notes the creation of a funding instrument to fight energy poverty.

Among the progress indicated by Brussels, we find:

• 45 thousand homes with improvements completed

• 45 MW of new renewable production capacity installed.

The European Commission also underlines the creation of more than 100 Energy Citizen Areas, a network of local centres focusing on energy literacy, technical advice, information on energy efficiency, and boosting large-scale renewable projects, covering the entire national soil, including the Azores and Madeira.

Through these initiatives, Portugal is presented in the report as one of the European Union countries that is making the most of the RRF to foster energy efficiency and greater housing resilience.