Public Acceptance and Electricity Governance in Building Decarbonisation

Buildings are a critical component of Europe’s climate and energy transition, accounting for roughly 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU). Despite substantial progress over the past two decades, further decarbonisation of the building stock requires accelerated electrification of heating, large-scale energy efficiency retrofits, expanded deployment of small-scale renewable generation, and increasing levels of demand-side flexibility. A defining feature of EU electricity and building policy is the combination of binding long-term decarbonisation targets with substantial discretion over national implementation. Recent directives set clear outcome-oriented requirements for the building sector—such as reductions in average primary energy use and the renovation of the worst-performing buildings—while allowing member states considerable flexibility in how these objectives are pursued. In practice, the discretion afforded to member states in implementing these targets has often translated into national strategies that emphasise instruments aimed at influencing household decision-making, including informational tools, financial incentives, and market-based mechanisms. As a result, consumer-centred approaches play a prominent role in the operationalisation of building decarbonisation goals. Households are expected to respond to energy performance information, subsidies, and evolving electricity prices by investing in renovations, low-carbon heating technologies, distributed generation, and by adjusting electricity consumption in ways that support system efficiency and flexibility. While these instruments coexist with regulatory requirements and minimum standards, they rely fundamentally on voluntary uptake and active consumer engagement to translate high-level policy targets into concrete outcomes. This paper reviews and synthesises a broad body of empirical literature on building decarbonisation, technology adoption, demand-side flexibility, and public acceptance to assess the viability of this consumer-centred policy framework. Drawing on evidence from OECD countries, the analysis focuses on how households sentiments towards policy instruments that rely on price signals, incentives, and voluntary participation. Particular attention is paid to household sentiments related to risk, fairness, trust, and willingness to engage, as well as to the practical constraints that shape behavioural responses in everyday contexts. While households frequently express support for decarbonisation objectives, the literature raises questions about the extent to which policy approaches that depend on voluntary uptake of price-based and incentive-based instruments are aligned with prevailing levels of awareness, risk tolerance, and capacity to engage. In practice, such approaches require households to actively make and sustain decisions—such as undertaking energy renovations, investing in low-carbon heating technologies or small-scale renewable generation, subscribing to dynamic electricity pricing, or adjusting consumption in response to price signals. Evidence from across the literature suggests that these forms of active uptake may be uneven and limited, which in turn constrains the scale, reliability, and social robustness of contributions to decarbonisation and system flexibility. Against this background, the paper reflects on the implications of relying on consumer activation as a central governance strategy for building decarbonisation. It suggests that achieving timely and durable progress may require a recalibration of electricity governance, with greater emphasis on regulation, coordinated planning and mandate-based approaches, alongside a more selective and targeted use of market-based instruments within a broader policy mix.