As Matthew Baldwin, head of the European Commission’s new Housing Task Force, recently noted, ‘cities are incubators of problems, but also of solutions’. With their density, diversity and visibility, cities are where housing and climate crises converge most acutely, but also where integrated responses can be tested and scaled.
European cities today face a dual emergency: a worsening housing crisis and an intensifying climate crisis. These are not separate issues. Rising energy costs, inefficient building stock and land scarcity are intersecting to widen inequality, especially for low-income households already affected by energy poverty, the inability to afford adequate heating, cooling and lighting in the home. Recent statistics from Eurostat has shown that nearly 85% of the EU’s buildings were built before 2000, and most perform poorly in terms of energy use. Buildings account for 40% of the EU’s energy consumption and half of its gas demand. Improving energy efficiency is critical for achieving Europe’s climate targets.
The EU has set ambitious goals: the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU/2024/1275) commits to a zero-emission building stock by 2050. The Renovation Wave Strategy aims to renovate 35 million buildings by 2030 and at least double the current pace of renovation. The introduction of the Emission Trading System 2 aims at incentivising investments in building renovations by capping CO2 emission allowances. The Social Climate Fund is intended to cushion vulnerable households during this transition.
Yet despite these efforts, the renovation rate remains just 1% per year. Worse, deep retrofit requirements, without the necessary support, can fuel displacement of tenants who can’t afford retrofits and 'renovictions', namely evictions resulting from rising rents after energy renovations. According to FEANTSA, in 2023, over 10% of Europeans, and more than 20% of low-income households, couldn’t afford to heat their homes. Since 2020, energy poverty has risen by over 40% across the EU.
One model rising to meet these challenges is the Upcycling Trust, a grassroots solution supported by the EU’s Interreg North-West Europe programme (2024–2028). Piloted in Brussels, Lille, Ghent, Rennes, and Cork, it offers a new deal for housing and climate policy. Instead of subsidising private retrofits or building on scarce land, the model invests in upcycling the existing housing stock, delivering energy-efficient and turn them into homes that remain permanently affordable through CLTs and OFS mechanisms.
With the right legal and financial tools, the Upcycling Trust shows that climate goals and social justice can be advanced together. The model delivers two processes at once:
- Decarbonisation: through deep energy renovation and circular building practices, focusing on deteriorated owner-occupied homes and underused buildings.
- Decommodification: by placing land and homes in trust ownership (via Community Land Trusts or Organismes de Foncier Solidaire), it removes them from the speculative market and ensures affordability is locked in for future generations.
Together, these mechanisms create a system where climate action and housing justice reinforce each other.
Sustainability is at the heart of the Upcycling Trust model : not just environmental, but also social and financial
The Upcycling Trust model shows that moments of crisis can be turned into opportunities to rethink how we invest in the built environment: rather than subsidising private retrofits that drive up rents or building new resource-intensive developments on increasingly scarce land, the Upcycling Trust model focuses on upcycling the existing housing stock. In return, renovated homes are brought under a long-term affordability framework, ensuring that public investment results in energy-efficient housing at a social price.
A model that is adaptable to different contexts
The Upcycling Trust is not a one-size-fits-all solution and that’s its strength. Piloted in five cities across North-West Europe, it shows how a shared framework for energy-efficient, permanently affordable housing can take shape in radically different contexts. (to be added: pictures of the pilots)
- In Brussels, where energy-poor housing meets strict renovation rules and gentrification, the Pack CLT Réno Solidaire developed by Community Land Trust Brussels, helps low-income homeowners retrofit without debt. In return, homes enter the CLT system, guaranteeing long-term affordability. Two test cases in the neighbourhood of Saint-Gilles highlight how the model prevents ‘renoviction’ in high-pressure markets.The Pack Réno Solidaire aligns with broader advocacy efforts calling for a socially inclusive renovation strategy in Brussels. Recently, a Carte Blanche was published on La Libre (July 2025), co-signed by CLTB and other regional stakeholders, stressing that energy renovation must serve as a tool for equity, not exclusion, by prioritising urgent works and supporting low-income households through structural and pre-financed aid mechanisms.
Listen to the testimonies from the residents involved
- Rennes applies the model in private condominiums, with the OFS (Organisme de Foncier Solidaire) acquiring units to reverse disinvestment, promote mixed-income living, and guide collective renovation. It's a way to preserve affordability and improve building standards in a fragmented ownership context.
- In Cork, Ireland’s first CLT-led retrofit tackles vacancy. A derelict public home will be converted into an affordable cost-rental unit, offering a replicable model for activating the country’s underused public housing stock, over 4,000 vacant units nationwide.
- Lille faces the challenge of mixed ownership. There, the model enables collective renovation in a 1950s estate where private and public actors co-exist. LMH (the local public housing provider) leads the process, combining BRS (Bail Réel Solidaire) mechanisms with the OFS to ensure long-term accessibility.
- In Ghent, the focus is on repurposing a long-vacant, fire-damaged property. Land ownership by the CLT, with resale and rent control, turns urban blight into permanently affordable housing for low-income residents.
Together, these pilots show how local adaptations of the Upcycling Trust model meet different needs, from owner-occupants facing retrofit mandates to vacant public stock and multi-owner buildings. What connects them is a structural response to housing and climate pressures that goes beyond short-term fixes and puts long-term affordability, equity and energy resilience at the core.
Discover our pilot projects across Europe
The model is already recognised as a European best practice
At the Upcycling Trust conference held in Ghent on April 1st, where all project partners gathered alongside EU officials, academics and local policymakers, Matthew Baldwin, Head of the EU Commission’s Housing Task Force, recognised the Upcycling Trust as a leading example of how to deliver a just transition in housing. The model has also been submitted as part of the European Commission’s public consultation on the European Affordable Housing Plan, a flagship initiative to help EU countries and cities increase the supply of sustainable, affordable housing and unlock both public and private investment. This plan promises to respect subsidiarity while building on the most effective tools and practices available. Upcycling Trust fits this ambition exactly: rooted locally, designed collaboratively and ready to scale.
Built to last: the added value of the Upcycling Trust
To sum up, the Upcycling Trust offers more than a technical fix for Europe’s aging buildings, it’s a call to rethink how we direct public investment, manage land and property and protect the right to decent, affordable housing in a changing climate. By focusing on existing buildings and long-term affordability, the model challenges the logic of short-term retrofits that drive up housing costs or push people out.
It shows what’s possible when renovation is not treated as an isolated construction task, but as part of a wider shift toward social and environmental resilience, led by communities, supported by public institutions and grounded in long-term stewardship.
If Europe is serious about delivering a just transition, it must move beyond generic policy targets and embrace locally rooted, people-centred solutions like Community Land Trusts (CLTs) and Organismes de Foncier Solidaire (OFSs). These tools already exist, what’s needed now is the political will to support them, align them with national and EU frameworks, and scale them responsibly. Only by bridging climate goals with housing justice can we deliver a future that is sustainable, equitable and truly inclusive, one renovation at a time.
Manifesto for Change
To give shape to their shared principles, the project partners co-created a manifesto: a collective document that reflects the values guiding their work. It is meant as an invitation to others who wish to reimagine renovation in ways that are both just and sustainable.