A full-house municipal conference organised in Hungary in February 2026

In recent years, the regulatory environment in Europe and Hungary has undergone significant changes: new energy efficiency standards, obligations, and design requirements have emerged that directly affect local governments and the local building stock. The aim of the conference on 27 February 2026 titled “Local Governments’ Obligations and Best Practices for Climate-Neutral Buildings” was to provide municipalities with clear, practical guidance on the new tasks and requirements for buildings under the EU’s Fit for 55 legislative package.

The first part of the event centred around expert presentations on the new EU regulations, global climate protection trends, the importance of planning and data, and the EU funds available to support these efforts, including EUCF financing. Following this, local government leaders presented best practices from their municipalities: good examples of energy efficiency, building renovation, and alternative financing from Szombathely, Pápateszér, Pécs, Újbuda, and Rákosmente were discussed, along with the lessons learned.

After lunch, a roundtable discussion about building decarbonization took place, covering topics such as energy management, automation, the Energy Efficiency Obligation System, and residential incentives. The conference concluded with one-on-one discussions with experts in a World Café format.

The conference also featured a presentation of MEHI’s handbook for local governments on building energy management and energy efficiency. The handbook is based on more than 25 interviews, recommendations from professional organizations, and the experiences of local governments, which served as the basis for 20 case studies involving municipalities of various sizes and characteristics. These case studies showcase practical local government initiatives: quick, investment-free energy-saving measures, building renovation projects, public incentive programmes, renewable-based heating system upgrades, and innovative financing solutions. The publication can be downloaded in Hungarian for free via this link.

The conference and the handbook focused on four areas where local governments have significant scope to improve the energy efficiency of buildings:

• Improving energy management (monitoring, building automation, energy management),
• Encouraging the renovation of municipal and residential buildings (exemplary renovations, local subsidy programmes, awareness-raising, and one-stop advisory models),
• Reducing heating energy consumption and transitioning to renewables (district cooling and heating planning, district heating development, geothermal and heat pump solutions),
• Financing (domestic and EU funds, innovative financing models, including the application of the Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme).

One-stop shops (OSS) served as a key topic at the conference. The handbook features several best practices from local governments regarding one-stop shops, and during the roundtable discussion, Ilona Illésné Szécsi, EU Peers Community manager in Hungary, emphasized the importance of OSS and their necessary framework. Additionally, a separate table at the afternoon world café was dedicated to one-stop shop services. Here, as well as during the breaks, there was an opportunity for local governments, market-based one-stop shops, and professional organisations to consult with one another, clarify emerging issues, and establish new collaborations.

We hope that the connections formed at the conference between local governments, professional organisations, and energy efficiency market players will lead to further collaborations, which will facilitate the implementation of new EU and domestic building energy regulations and obligations.