The article illustrates the Italian pilot action in the IEE-EPISCOPE project, focussing on the analysis of energy refurbishment trends of the Piedmont region residential building stock. The methodology follows three steps: (1) definition of a knowledge-base on the current state of the building stock, (2) investigation of refurbishment scenarios considering energy efficiency measures and retrofit rates, and (3) comparison of the achievable CO2 reductions with the climate protection targets in short and middle term. The results are addressed to local authorities to enable them to set up corrective actions to achieve the targets. Three realistic scenarios are investigated. The first one considers the annual current refurbishment trend and the most common energy efficiency measures. The second scenario applies the measures resulting from a cost-optimal analysis. The third scenario considers the mean annual refurbished floor area necessary to meet the climate protection targets. The results of the scenario analyses emphasise the need of implementing major refurbishments, rather than fixing stricter requirements. The building stock energy performance is assessed through the building typology approach defined in the IEE-TABULA project. It allows the models of building stock energy refurbishment to be presented in an effective way, easily understandable and manageable by non-energy experts. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.