What is the SEED MICAT Project?



SEED MICAT - Support Energy Efficiency Deployment with the Multiple Impacts CAlculation Tool, aims to help EU and member states at national, regional and local governance levels in including Multiple Impacts (MI) in their implementation of the Energy Efficiency First (EE1) principle. Basing this on strong and reliable analytical tools, SEED MICAT is thus "sowing the seeds" for a broad application of the principle.

Considering MI in target setting argues for a fast phase-out of fossil fuels but also for a careful analysis of MI related to different pathways to climate neutrality, with varying contributions from energy demand and energy supply options.

Therefore, the project extends its MI framework to include renewable energy sources, advocates integrating policy modules, and showcases how it applies at different levels. SEED MICAT also includes replication analysis, capacity building, and a strong dissemination approach to promote knowledge on implementing the EE1 principle.

DURATION OF THE PROJECT

Timeline of the MICAT project
Timeline of the MICAT project

HOW DOES IT WORK?

The major objective of SEED MICAT is to support the EU and its Member States at all governance levels in including Multiple Impacts in their operationalisation and implementation of the Energy Efficiency First principle, based on strong and reliable analytical tools. The following specific objectives is key to the project:

Bild
Bild

Extending the scope of and improving the MICATool to allow the analysis of potentially competing or complementary paths and options to climate neutrality: to support the principal's operationalisation, the Multiple Impacts framework is extended to renewable energy sources, thus making pathways relying on different policy mixes towards climate neutrality comparable. Furthermore, the learnings from the REFEREE and the Assessment Tool projects are used to add a policy assessment module to the MICATool, enabling policy makers to assess single and cross-sectoral policies. Finally, in consultation with policy makers and officials from the EU, Italy, the Czech Republic, and Germany, tool improvements will be provided.

Bild
Bild

Integrating Multiple Impacts in political processes at European, national, regional, and local governance levels: The EU will incorporate Multiple Impacts assessments using MICATool in upcoming reference and climate neutrality scenarios. This establishes a methodological foundation for Impact Assessments and EU reporting on the Multiple Impacts of climate neutrality pathways, aligning with the EE1 principle. Similarly, SEED MICAT will serve as a basis for reporting by EU Member States, showcasing diverse applications at the national level. The project also aims to implement MICATool at regional and local levels to aid decision-making in these governance contexts.

Bild
Bild

Enhancing the use of Multiple Impacts in concrete policy processes: SEED MICAT will develop three concrete implementation concepts for Multiple Impact analyses: specific analyses on import dependencies, energy system resilience, and biodiversity impacts; capacity building on MICATool and related methodologies for various governance levels; and a methodology for replicating analyses from selected Member States to others evaluating climate neutrality options. The project also prioritises a robust communication and dissemination strategy to maximize the practical use of Multiple Impacts in impact assessment and policy analysis across European, national, regional, and local scales.

Related Projects

ONGOING PROJECTS

ABOUT THE ENEFIRST PLUS PROJECT

The Energy Efficiency First (EE1st) principle is defined and endorsed in EU legislation. The purpose of EE1st is to consider the demand-side resources, such as energy efficiency and demand-response as the other types of energy resources for energy planning, investment, and policy. However, the previous evaluations of the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) and similar projects, such as ENEFIRST shows that implementing the EE1st is easier said than done.

Therefore, the ENEFIRST Plus project will support the key stakeholders to complement the existing resources for investment in energy infrastructure, energy planning, and designing incentives. Through this project, new practical guidelines and “real-life examples” will be provided on implementing the EE1st principle. In addition, ENEFIRST Plus pursues to test the resources for 8 “real-life” cases in 4 countries (Croatia, Greece, Italy and Poland) and extend the outcomes to 27 Member States. Building capacity and stakeholders’ engagement through learning cycles are one of the core components of ENEFIRST Plus which results in a community of practice. Furthermore, an online platform will collect the most relevant information and resources about EE1st.

Duration: 01/10/2023-31/09/2026 | Grant Agreement number: 101120880


ABOUT THE ENSMOV PLUS PROJECT

ENSMOV Plus is a three-year European project of the LIFE programme, launched in December 2022. It builds on the previous ENSMOV project to provide support to public authorities and key stakeholders on the implementation of Article 7 EED.

The activities and resources developed by the project will cover the whole policy cycle, facilitate experience sharing and make knowledge and information easy to find and use. The project will deal with both short-term and concrete issues and longer term strategic approaches to improving the effectiveness of energy efficiency policies. The challenges of meeting the 2023 recast of the EED and its relation to the wider Fit-for-55 Package will be a key focus of the project.

The project will also continue the development of the ENSMOV knowledge exchange platformwhere all relevant information on Article 8 EED and its implementation can be found.

Duration: 01/12/2022-31/11/2025 | Grant Agreement number: 101076098


ABOUT THE ODYSSEE-MURE PROJECT

The general objective of the ODYSSEE-MURE project was to provide a comprehensive monitoring of energy consumption and efficiency trends as well as an evaluation of energy efficiency policy measures by sector for EU countries, Norway, Serbia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. It evaluated and compared energy efficiency progress by sector, and related this progress to the observed trends in energy consumption. In addition, it contributed to the evaluation of national energy efficiency policy measures and analysed their dynamics of implementation. To provide results in an interactive and attractive way to decision makers and actors involved in energy efficiency, the project developed specific data and policy tools.

Duration: 01/10/2022-31/09/2025 | Grant Agreement number: 101075902


ABOUT THE REFEREE PROJECT

The REFEREE project – Real ValuE oF EneRgy EfficiEncyConducting – will analyse and assess the direct and indirect non-energy effects of energy efficiency investments and develop user-friendly tools to support policymakers at the local, regional and national levels. The project will allow households, companies, financing institutions and other stakeholders to assess the multiple effects of their energy efficiency decisions and include the assessment of energy efficiency investments in diverse ecosystems, including low-income regions and socially imbalanced societies.

Duration: 01/10/2020-31/03/2024 | Grant Agreement number: 101000136


ABOUT THE REGIO1ST PROJECT

REGIO1ST raises awareness about the Energy Efficiency First principle (EE1st) among regional governments and their agencies and supports them to make related decisions in their planning. It does so through the provision of appropriate guidance to regional authorities to embed the EE1st principle in their decisions and in the implementation of their energy plans departing from six participant regions and expanding to over 100 regions in the EU. It establishes a community of practice for EE1st in cooperation with the Covenant of Mayors to ensure political commitment of regional authorities and strengthens the enforcement of the Multilevel Climate and Energy Dialogue provision, with particular focus on ownership and acceptance of the principle from stakeholders at all levels.

Duration: 01/11/2022-31/10/2025 | Grant Agreement number: 101076088


ABOUT THE TOGETHERFOR1.5 PROJECT

The LIFE TogetherFor1.5 project aims to align the EU’s climate action with the 1.5°C objective of the Paris Agreement, building on three climate and energy policy opportunities: the finalisation and implementation of the Fit for 55 legislative package and RePowerEU; the revision of National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs); and the revision of the national Long-Term Strategies (LTS). The project also increase the public's acceptance of ambitious climate action by showing its societal and economic benefits.

Duration: 01/9/2022-31/08/2025 | Grant Agreement number: 101074297

ENDED PROJECTS

EERAdata
EERAdata

ABOUT THE EERADATA PROJECT

The EERAdata project – Data-Driven Decision-Support To Increase Energy Efficiency Through Renovation In European Building Stock – aims to develop a decision-support tool to help local administrations in collecting and processing their building data towards assessing the impact of energy efficiency measures and prioritising them in planning, renovating and constructing buildings. The project takes a holistic approach which assesses ecological and socio-economic benefits of energy efficiency measures and targets important players in the local administration and policy space.

Duration: 01/07/2019-28/02/2022 | Grant Agreement number: 847101


ABOUT THE EENVEST PROJECT

To support investor decision-making, the EENVEST project will convert buildings’ energy-efficiency technical requirements into economic indicators for use in assessing financial risks related to deep renovation investment. Through a search and match investment evaluation web-based platform, the finance industry will be able to match energy efficiency investment demand and offer for Italy and Spain’s commercial office buildings. In addition to evaluation methods for linking technical and financial risk, the project will identify, quantify and mitigate technical risks connected with such investments and lower lenders’ credit cost via tailored risk reduction activities.

Duration: 01/07/2020-30/06/2022 | Grant Agreement number: 833112


ABOUT THE MICAT PROJECT

MICAT – Multiple Impacts Calculation Tool – is a project that aims to develop a comprehensive approach to estimate Multiple Impacts of Energy Efficiency (MI-EE) by co-creating a free, easy-to-use, scientifically sound online tool (MICATool). The MICATool will enable holistic analyses of MI-EE at the European, national and local levels to strengthen the climate strategy of the Energy Union and accelerate an affordable and just sustainable energy transition by addressing the challenges and needs of important target groups: policy makers, practitioners and evaluators.

Duration: 01/10/2020-30/11/2023 | Grant Agreement number: 101000132


ABOUT THE M-Benefits PROJECT

The M-Benefits project – Valuing and Communicating Multiple Benefits of Energy-Efficiency Measures – aimed to include the Multiple Benefits (MB) of energy efficiency in investment decisions of companies and thereby substantially increasing the deployment of cost-effective energy saving potentials. It delivered best-practice examples, tools and trainings on the importance of MBs for investment decisions in companies, thereby addressing all relevant decision-makers.

Duration: 01/03/2018-30/06/2021 | Grant Agreement number: 785131


DEESME
DEESME

ABOUT THE DEESME PROJECT

Conducting energy audits and implementing energy management systems can be a source of multiple benefits for companies if they tap into their wide potential: reduced operating costs, increased productivity, improved working environment, and much more. As such, DEESME aims to enable companies, especially small and medium enterprises (SMEs), to engage in the energy transition by taking profit of multiple benefits from energy management and energy audit approaches, as well as provide national authorities with guidelines and recommendations to strengthen their national schemes/policies.

Duration: 01/09/2020-31/08/2023 | Grant Agreement number: 892235


WHY
WHY

ABOUT THE newTRENDs PROJECT

New societal trends empowered by digitalisation such as shared economy, autonomous driving and low-carbon circular economy could lead to an increase in energy demand if they are not countered by measures with a strong focus on saving energy. The goal of the newTRENDs project is to identify and quantify how new societal trends may affect energy demand. To achieve its goal, it will combine qualitative and quantitative cross-sectoral modelling and explore how energy demand models can be improved to represent new societal trends.

Duration: 01/09/2020-31/08/2023 | Grant Agreement number: 893311


WHY
WHY

ABOUT THE WHY PROJECT

Energy System Models (ESMs) are tools that help energy experts and policy makers to rationally describe energy systems and systematically evaluate the impacts of long-term energy scenarios. Current ESMs lack accuracy required for proper capture of the use of energy in households. As such, the WHY project is developing a new Causal Model combined with an innovative profiling approach to analyse human decision making in energy consumption and human reactions to energy policy changes. WHY will also create innovative methodologies for short and long term load forecasting.

Duration: 01/09/2020-31/08/2023 | Grant Agreement number: 891943

SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER FOR REGULAR PROJECT UPDATES

Subscribe

As of December 2023, the SEED MICAT newsletter will be integrated into the Institute for European Energy and Climate Policy’s (IEECP) monthly newsletter. This will serve as a news channel to disseminate updates about multiple EU projects centred on energy efficiency, energy poverty, and other relevant topics. If you wish to receive news about the SEED MICAT project via IEECP’s newsletter, subscribe to stay updated!

Frequency

You will be kept updated once a month with relevant content related to the project’s findings, news, publications, and events.

Our website uses cookies. By using our website and agreeing to this policy, you consent to our use of cookies in accordance with the terms of this policy. If you do not consent to the use of these cookies please disable them following the instructions in this Cookie Notice so that cookies from this website cannot be placed on your device. Data Protection