Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) broadly welcomed, on Thursday 15 October, the European Commission’s new strategy to launch a major ‘renovation wave’ to improve the energy efficiency of buildings in the European Union.
Unveiled on Wednesday, the strategy aims to at least double the average annual rate of energy retrofitting of residential and non-residential buildings by 2030 (see EUROPE 12581/10).
Author of an own-initiative report on the subject (see EUROPE 12563/15), Ciarán Cuffe MEP (Greens/EFA, Ireland) enthusiastically welcomed the Commission’s announcement, welcoming the fact that several of his report’s proposals are included in the strategy.
“I am pleased to see the focus on minimum energy performance standards, building renovation passports, decarbonisation of heating and cooling, scaling up and renovation requirements for schools and hospitals”, he said during a debate in the ITRE Committee with Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson.
Pernille Weiss (EPP, Denmark), shadow rapporteur for Mr Cuffe’s report, also welcomed the strategy, although she questioned how to ensure that “market players will react positively” to the initiatives foreseen in the strategy to mobilise private funds, such as the revised sustainable finance strategy (see EUROPE 12388/7).
As part of this initiative, the Commission is indeed considering additional standards and labels for sustainable financial products, such as green mortgages, green loans and green bonds, the ‘renovation wave’ strategy indicates.
Asked by Paolo Borchia (ID, Italy) how Member States will mobilise the investment needed to renovate public buildings, the Commissioner stressed the role of the ‘Recovery and Resilience Facility’ (see EUROPE 12562/12), 37% of the total amount (€672.5 billion) of which will be spent on climate-related expenditure.
Stakeholder reactions
The day before, most stakeholders had reacted positively to the presentation of the strategy.
For Céline Carré, Vice-President of EuroACE (the European Business Alliance for Energy Efficiency in Buildings), “the renovation wave comes with a ‘game changer’: minimum energy performance requirements”.
Also welcoming the strategy, the European Builders’ Confederation (EBC), an organisation representing European SMEs in the construction sector, nevertheless said it was “sceptical” given the lack of funds specifically earmarked for the renovation wave.
The NGO Friends of the Earth Europe, on the other hand, considers that the strategy does not go far enough.
“The Commission’s lofty words would be more credible if matched by far reaching action to triple renovations and funding targeted for those living in energy poverty first”, said Martha Myers, member and ‘climate justice and energy’ campaigner for the NGO. (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)