The European Commission considers energy efficiency in buildings to be a strategic priority of the Energy Union, but many regions in south-west Europe have considerable financial constraints for the renovation of buildings. The challenge of the six regions taking part in the REHABILITE project is to identify and use successful financial instruments that break the investment barrier in order to renovate private houses and public buildings. The ultimate aim of the project is to modify the support policies for energy renovation in such a way as to include innovative financial instruments and to prove the viability of these new policies by means of pilot actions.