Assessing the relevance of barriers to energy efficiency implementation in the building and transport sectors in eight European countries

The paper maps and evaluates the main economic, institutional, and behavioural barriers to the implementation of energy efficiency in final uses. Barriers prevent the achievement of targets of energy efficiency policies and measures. Assessing the relevance of barriers can lead to their consideration in goal-setting by policy-makers either by reducing ambition or by incorporating solutions to mitigate barriers, We consider three main categories of barriers: economic, institutional, and behavioural ones, in buildings and transport sectors. In order to assess the relevance of each specific barrier in these categories, a survey to experts in eight Countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Estonia, United Kingdom, Italy, Belgium and Serbia) has been performed. The relevance of barriers is assessed by two levels of analysis: 1. their impact on policies and measures, and 2. their impact on the diffusion of key clean technologies and interventions in the two sectors. In the building sector, we find that the most relevant barriers relate to economic and behavioural categories. In the transport sector, we find that the most relevant barriers relate to institutional and economic categories. Economic barriers are also the most relevant in limiting the diffusion of technologies and interventions in both sectors. Results highlight the relevance of identifying and assessing barriers in order to improve policy design.