Hladík: Changes to Czechia's New Green Savings programme aim to encourage more comprehensive renovations

Changes to the New Green Savings programme (NZÚ) are intended to encourage people to undertake more comprehensive renovations of family homes, Environment Minister Petr Hladík (KDU-ČSL) told reporters today. The new call for applications opens this Thursday, 20 February, and will run until 20 February next year. The ministry wants to keep the conditions stable throughout the year and to announce any future changes transparently and well in advance. The main changes include paying the grant before renovation work begins and simplifying the application process.

The changes to support primarily concern family homes; apartment buildings are unaffected. The key new features include an emphasis on comprehensive renovations, which the ministry says are intended to deliver maximum savings. It also says the call simplifies and unifies the conditions for applicants, offers access to a favourable loan for renovations of any scale, and pays the grant before work begins for all applicants. The programme also aims to promote social fairness by targeting support at households at risk of energy poverty, for example through NZÚ Light, the ministry added.

Applications will be submitted entirely online through the AIS system of the State Environmental Fund (SFŽP), using bank identity verification. Decisions on grants are usually issued within a few weeks, typically within a month.

According to the ministry, there are 1,7 million occupied family homes in Czechia, and around 240.000 households that own family homes face energy poverty. The situation is similar for apartment buildings: of the total 209.000 buildings, 207.000 are occupied, while around 230.000 tenant households and 150.000 apartment owners are at risk of energy poverty.

Hladík admitted that the ministry had expected greater interest in grants for municipalities and the public sector, where support of up to 70 percent of costs is available. The number of applications is still low, however, which has surprised the ministry. Renovation costs can be reimbursed retroactively for work carried out up to 12 months before an application is submitted, with a transition period featuring less stringent conditions in place until 30 June 2025.

Marcela Kubů, director of the Association of Mineral Insulation Manufacturers, said stable and predictable conditions are important for both industry and applicants. „It is natural for conditions to change over time, but businesses and applicants must be prepared for that,“ she said. She particularly welcomed the emphasis on comprehensive renovations, which encourages applicants to carry out as many measures as possible at once.

The programme is financed by the Modernisation Fund, which draws on revenue from emissions allowances and whose funds are earmarked exclusively for decarbonisation. The ministry works with representatives of industry associations on the programme's design. Since the programme began, Czechia has saved almost four million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, making it, according to Hladík, one of the important tools for decarbonisation.