Press Release | Do Czechs renovate their homes? And how popular are subsidy programmes?

The Czech public is divided. Almost half of Czechs are interested in the topic of climate change and consider it a serious problem. However, some proposed systemic solutions are often reluctantly accepted by the public. Research conducted by the JustGreen project in the V4 countries looked at how people perceive change and how to involve the public more in the debate on decarbonising the economy.

The questionnaires showed that 69% of the Czech population is planning to renovate their homes in the near future to reduce their energy consumption. Most households are replacing windows, while only 6% of households have installed photovoltaics. The expected barrier to renovation is lack of money, but a large part of the population also believes that, for example, wall renovation and insulation are simply not needed.

"Up to three-fifths of the households surveyed have not yet applied for any subsidies and are not even considering it, beyond the lack of their own funds for renovations. At the same time, however, the questionnaire shows that where households have applied for a subsidy, the vast majority (92%) said the whole process has been worthwhile, despite the paperwork involved. This shows us that it is worth persuading more people to consider applying, the process itself leaves a positive sentiment."

Martin Philipp, Analyst, STEM Institute for Empirical Research

Focus group participants expressed interest in renovating their homes, but only if they owned the property. The motivation for renovation is often housing comfort, not energy efficiency considerations. A clear barrier is the lack of funds for renovation; however, participants do not retrospectively evaluate the money saved, only how much more comfortable they are now.

"The research shows that Czechs are skeptical about subsidies and do not believe that construction companies will do a good job, for example, when replacing windows. On the contrary, sharing the experience of their neighbours or colleagues often makes them apply for a subsidy and renovate their home. Therefore, it would be good to focus on sharing good experiences to bring the possibilities of grant-aided renovation to more people."

Rebeka Hengalová, EUROPEUM Institute researcher

All data from the questionnaires and focus groups can be found here. We will be happy to keep you informed about further events of this project, please sign up at this link or follow our JustGreen project website.

All questions will be answered by:

Rebeka Hengalová, Researcher, Green Europe Team, EUROPEUM Institute

rhengalova@europeum.org, +420 604 932 657, www.europeum.org

Martin Philipp, Analyst, STEM Institute for Empirical Research

martin.philipp@stem.cz , + 420 723 317 527, www.stem.cz