A vital component of achieving climate neutrality in the future involves bolstering energy efficiency measures in educational institutions and improving the overall knowledge on sustainable solutions. To achieve fruitful outcomes, the active involvement of various stakeholders, such as managers, teaching staff, and students, is indispensable. By implementing energy-efficient building systems, advancing the use of renewable energy sources, and incorporating sustainable practices into the curriculum, educational institutions can decrease their environmental impact and conserve resources for future generations. Active participation from all stakeholders, including managers, teaching staff, and students, is essential for the success of these efforts. Providing students with a comprehensive education on sustainability equips them to apply this knowledge in their future professions, thus contributing to a more sustainable society. To gain insights into the existing state of sustainability within educational systems, a comprehensive study of educational institutions was undertaken. To assess and compare schools’ sustainability, a composite indicator was developed. The study’s findings reveal that the implementation of mandatory and optional measures can lead to a substantial reduction in primary energy consumption by 39% and greenhouse gas emissions by 34% in educational institutions. The average abandonment costs for mandatory measures are 5.87 EUR/kgCO₂/year, but the average value for optional measures is 33.80 EUR/kgCO₂/year. It is suggested demonstration projects be implemented in institutions where specialists in RE, mechatronics, building engineering systems, and environmental technologies are trained by showcasing technologies needed for the transition to climate neutrality.

This article examines energy audit procedures as a crucial instrument for raising building and business energy efficiency in European Union (EU) Member States. Energy audits, which include technical, economic, and environmental aspects, are essential to reaching the EU’s climate targets, which include increasing energy independence and cutting emissions by 55% by 2030. The study highlights how crucial energy efficiency initiatives are to combating climate change, cutting energy use, and advancing sustainable development. A thorough examination of methods, financing sources, and legislative frameworks reveals differences in how Member States carry out directives such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive. A case study on Latvia is included in the article, highlighting the country’s energy audit regulations, implementation difficulties, and successes. This study applied a bibliographic methodology or review of the scientific and other relevant literature, analyzing sources identified through targeted keyword searches in academic databases and a variety of online sources, including official legal websites, handbooks, reports, plans, and other publicly available digital resources. The integration of energy efficiency principles and country performances are compared using data from the Odyssee and Mure databases. The results highlight how important it is to standardize energy auditing practices, promote information sharing across national borders, and move past obstacles like public resistance and budgetary limitations. Policy recommendations to improve energy efficiency and aid the EU’s transition to climate neutrality by 2050 are included in the research’s conclusion.

A resource-efficient society that reduces waste is one of the European Union’s long-term objectives. Waste that cannot be prevented should be reused as far as possible through sorting, recycling and minimizing landfill. Achieving this goal requires the active and coordinated participation of all stakeholders, including households. However, the low involvement in waste reduction measures of certain consumer groups, especially hard-to-reach consumers, poses a significant challenge. This paper investigates the mental models of waste reduction practices of different consumer groups using cognitive maps as an analysis tool. The Mental Modeler tool is used to predict behavioural patterns of different consumer groups and simulate the impact of various scenarios on these behaviours. The results show that different groups of consumers develop different reactions to the waste management measures foreseen in the legislation, with the hard-to-reach exhibiting particularly minimal engagement. The study highlights significant differences between the mental models of consumer groups, emphasizing the need for a tailored, interdisciplinary approach to understand consumer motivations and effectively promote sustainable behaviour change. The findings suggest that to transition to a circular economy successfully, specific strategies and policy interventions targeting hard-to-reach groups are essential to stimulate their engagement in waste reduction and resource reuse practices.

An effective transition to a circular economy, including sustainable waste management practices, requires the active participation of all stakeholders, including households. However, a part of the population is often left out of public participation campaigns. This study investigates the mental models of such uninvolved or hard-to-reach groups, comparing them with those of easy-to-engage and expert groups, and analysing what determines their attitudes and actions. The study uses cognitive maps as an analysis tool to reveal the logic of group beliefs and behaviour that influence waste management choices. Using the Mental Modeler tool, the study simulates behaviour under different policy scenarios, highlighting differences in group behaviour. The results reveal a particularly low level of responsiveness of hard-to-reach groups to current waste management strategies. The study offers strategic guidelines for policymaking and adapting behaviour change measures based on understanding differences in group mental models. The conclusions emphasize the need for deeper engagement strategies tailored to each group. This study makes an essential contribution to the field of environmental communication and policymaking, especially with regard to the sustainable transition to a circular economy at the household level.

According to the European Union, household energy consumption accounts for up to 30% of total energy consumption. Therefore, the household sector has great potential for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The introduction of energy efficiency measures and the renovation of multi-apartment buildings are important solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and achieving climate neutrality in Latvia. However, this potential is not being fully exploited because the renovation process in the multi-apartment building sector is extremely slow. One of the reasons for this is the lack of interest and willingness of residents to engage and agree on the implementation of energy efficiency measures in buildings. The study examines the main groups of energy consumers, their definitions, needs, as well as the most common obstacles and barriers that prevent energy consumers from fully engaging in the implementation of energy efficiency measures. To get an idea of the groups, publicly available information on the characteristics of hard-to-reach consumers was analysed, media content was analysed and interviews with energy experts were conducted. The results showed that the literature mentions different definitions, audience characteristics, barriers, and needs of hard-to-reach energy consumers. These definitions, barriers, and needs vary across countries and research contexts. There is a strong focus on overcoming barriers, but little research on the needs of the groups. Defining the audience accurately and studying the needs of the groups in depth are essential steps in developing and implementing appropriate policies for engaging hard-to-reach energy consumers. These findings highlight an important knowledge gap in this research field.