In a position paper published on Tuesday 18 April on the Clean Energy Package that is currently being examined by the EU institutions, the European Builders Confederation (EBC) stresses that the energy renovation market is becoming more and more crucial for the construction sector, and calls for a strengthening of the energy efficiency and energy performance of buildings directives to boost the building renovation market.
In terms of revision of Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, the EBC calls for decision-makers to establish a regulatory and financial framework that is stable over the long-run to kick-start massive retrofitting of existing buildings or the replacement of obsolete and inefficient equipment. It recommends allocating more public funding for renovation and improvement of energy efficiency in private housing and to make it easily accessible. It also recommends supporting the continued use of energy savings obligations.
In terms of revision of the EU Directive on the energy performance of buildings (2010/31/EU), the construction sector recommends moving the exemplary role of public bodies’ buildings from the Energy Efficiency Directive to this directive and expanding its scope to cover all public buildings (at local, regional and national level).
It also recommends supporting and promoting public and private financing schemes for energy efficiency and ensuring the dissemination of best practices regarding the aggregation of small energy renovation projects.
The EBC recommends including regular maintenance of heating and air-conditioning systems in the energy performance of buildings directive and lowering the threshold for both the regular inspection and maintenance of heating and air-conditioning systems. Finally, it calls for facilitating of aggregation of SMEs in groups and consortia and strengthening of on-the-job training.
The draft reports on the revision of the two directives will be published in May (energy performance of buildings) and June (energy efficiency) for a vote in plenary in October. The Maltese Presidency hopes general guidelines will be reached at the Council on both texts at the Energy Council of 26 June.
The construction sector, which accounts for 9% of the EU’s GDP. The energy renovation sector had a turnover of €109 billion and created 882,900 jobs in 2015. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)