On Wednesday 14 October, the European Commission published its ‘retrofit wave’ strategy to improve the energy performance of buildings in the European Union with the aim of reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and fuel poverty, while simultaneously creating jobs.
As set out in the draft strategy (see EUROPE 12579/11), the European Commission intends to at least double the average annual rate at which it energy retrofits residential and non-residential buildings by 2030, as well as ensuring that the retrofits that are carried out result in increased efficiency in energy consumption and resource usage.
Such a pace of renovation could create around 160,000 ‘green’ jobs in the construction sector by 2030, according to the European institution.
In order to take into account the time needed to carry out renovation projects, the European Commission expects an annual rate of 1% for the 2021–2022 period, then 1.2% per year during 2023–2025, before stabilising at a rate of at least 2% per year in the 2026–2029 period.
“With the Renovation Wave we will tackle the many barriers that today make renovation complex, expensive and time consuming, holding back much needed action”, said the Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson.
According to the institution, around 85% of buildings in the EU were constructed before 2001 and between 85% and 95% of the existing buildings will still be standing in 2050.
Renovating them is therefore “more than necessary”, stressed the European Commission, while noting that the EU’s building stock currently accounts for 40% of energy consumed and 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.
Specifically, the Commission estimates that by 2030, GHG emissions from buildings will need to be reduced by 60%, their final energy consumption reduced by 14%, and energy consumption for heating and cooling reduced by 18% in order to achieve a 55% reduction in EU emissions by 2030.
This represents an estimated annual cost of around €275 billion of additional investment in renovating buildings.
Legislative initiatives
In order to achieve this, the strategy sets out several legislative initiatives.
In particular, the European Commission is proposing to gradually introduce mandatory minimum energy performance standards for existing buildings under the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31) which is scheduled for the end of 2021.
The strategy also states that this revision could furthermore lead to the introduction of a “intensive renovation” standard, to allow the anchoring of significant private funding in transparent, measurable and truly green investments.
In the context of the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27) scheduled for June 2021, the institution will examine the need to extend energy audit requirements to larger and more complex non-residential buildings such as hospitals, schools, and offices.
In order to update the framework for energy performance certificates (EPCs), the European Commission will also consider developing a uniform data format for certificates, as well as the introduction of stricter provisions on the availability and accessibility of databases for EPCs.
While the current legislative requirements for purchasing and renovating existing public buildings currently only cover public buildings that are owned and occupied by central governments, the revision of the EED Directive might well serve as an opportunity to extend the scope of renovation requirements to all levels of public administration and to increase the annual renovation obligation.
The Commission will also look at the possibility of introducing a requirement for a minimum proportion of energy in buildings to be renewable energy.
Finally, over the course of next year, it will assess the possibility of extending the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to buildings.
Tackling fuel poverty
At a time when almost 34 million Europeans cannot afford to heat their homes, the fight against fuel poverty is at the heart of this strategy, said the European Commission.
The strategy includes an affordable housing initiative, which is planned for 2021 and which will cover 100 neighbourhoods (see other news).
In parallel with the presentation of the strategy, the Commission also addressed recommendations and guidelines for Member States that will assist them in defining and monitoring fuel poverty, as well as contributing to the dissemination of good practices.
View the strategy here (https://bit.ly/3nPoxYO ) and the annex with the envisaged key actions (https://bit.ly/33Y99BC ). (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)