Around 200 million euros will be made available for the energy efficiency renovation of residential buildings by 2024. This was announced by the Minister of Physical Planning, Construction and State Assets, Branko Bacic, on Wednesday at a conference on the environmentally friendly renovation of buildings in Zagreb, which was attended by around 100 participants.

Bacic and the ministerial official Irena Kriz-Selendic explained at the conference that the public tender for the energy renovation is worth almost 95 million euros and that the tender will be published this week.

The tender will be open for about two months. The projects will be co-financed under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan 2021-2026. The aim is to achieve the European quality level of residential buildings, meet the targets for annual heating energy savings and reduce CO2 emissions, which will contribute to the decarbonisation of buildings.

The grants for the projects will cover between 60% and 80% of the required amount.

Bacic said that during the energy renovation from 2014 to 2020, 1,400 buildings were renovated, including over 800 kindergartens, schools, museums, hospitals and other public buildings. In addition, 550 apartment blocks with a total of 16,000 flats underwent a green renovation.

The Deputy Head of the European Commission Representation in Croatia, Andrea Covic-Vidovic, said that apartment blocks are the largest consumers of energy in Europe, accounting for 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions.