EU Peers: looking back at three years of community building

At the end of June 2026, the EU Peers consortium partners met in Besançon (France) for the final project meeting. It was time to look back at the last three years of the EU Peers community building, celebrate the successes, and think of what could be done better because… EU Peers continues! From September 2026 until August 2029, the renewed consortium, covering more EU countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Bulgaria, Poland, Belgium, Germany) will support our community of One-Stop Shops and make it grow.

From 0 to +630 members in 3 years

Our biggest success is definitely the community’s spectacular growth. In only three years, the counter jumped from zero to more than 630 members! They actively participated in (trans)national meetings, learning labs and study visits to learn from each other and to discuss the topics as diverse as energy poverty, engagement of and communication with homeowners, business models and financing. They got to know each other better thanks to monthly ‘Who is Who’ sessions and solved problems together on the members-only digital community space. 

‍Helping One-Stop Shops flourish

The EPBD and the EED came into force but how to implement them? EU member states are looking for practical solutions and the EU Peers community is there to help. Who knows better how to make One-Stop Shops flourish if it’s not One-Stop Shops themselves? Speaking from their own experience of building and running One-Stop Shops, EU Peers members drafted policy recommendations for national and European policy makers. Here are the key points:

1. Establish OSS as essential infrastructure

- Ensure effective OSS coverage and implement inclusive OSS networks.
- Promote ecosystem-based and complementary OSS integration.
- Define the OSS role through minimum requirements.
- Link OSS activities to transparent outcome reporting.

2. Financing and market design measures

- Ensure predictable and sustainable funding for OSS.
- Use OSS to mobilise investment and transform the renovation market
- Ensure homeowners can access affordable financing through OSS channels.
- National renovation strategies should foster the demand for more energy efficient buildings. Activating homeowners means also awareness raising, financial incentives  

#Simplify #Engage #Make sustainable

How will the community look like in three years and beyond? The new consortium partners will look for the answer at the EU Peers II kick off meeting in October 2026. But the first ideas have already emerged and the key words are: 

• #Simplify: the community has grown fast and the number of capacity building materials, tools, guides and communication materials have followed a similar curve. Some cleaning is needed to make it more user friendly. Also, the adhesion procedure will be simplified to allow for faster boarding of new members. 
• #Engage: as the community gets bigger, the risk is that the number of engaged members will be smaller. We will double our efforts to keep all members engaged as much as possible.
• #Make Sustainable: we have not started yet to think of EU Peers II and we already have EU Peers III in mind. But what if there is no EU Peers III? We want to develop the community in a way that will make it attractive and sustainable even without our support. 

Keep an eye on the EU Peers community future developments and if you are not a member yet, join now!