On Tuesday 14 March the European Parliament endorsed by a small majority (343 votes in favour, 216 against, 76 abstentions) the draft ‘Cuffe’ report setting out higher standards for the energy performance of buildings (see EUROPE 13140/14).
“This deal is both fair and realistic: It will lower energy bills and CO2 emissions, as the building sector is currently responsible for 36% of total emissions in the EU, it will tackle energy poverty and it will create local jobs” and also provide funding for renovation programmes, welcomed Ciarán Cuffe (Greens/EFA, Irish), rapporteur on this dossier.
The political compromise worked out between the main political groups in February has held up (see EUROPE 13111/1). Thus, according to the Parliament, all new buildings should be zero-emission from 2026 for public buildings and 2028 for the rest of the building stock.
Public and non-residential buildings will have to achieve energy performance class E by 2027, and D by 2030. For residential buildings, MEPs are pushing back these two deadlines by three years, starting with the lowest performing 15% of the stock (rated G).
Exceptions will be made for historical monuments and, under certain conditions, for social housing or other residential buildings in a state of disrepair, notably for reasons of technical feasibility or availability of labour. This last exception will cover a maximum of 22% of the total housing stock and cannot go beyond 2037. Mr Cuffe also mentioned exceptions for small dwellings of less than 50m2, or occupied on a temporary basis, as well as religious buildings.
All new buildings will have to be equipped with solar technologies by 2028, if technically and economically feasible, while residential buildings undergoing major renovation will have until 2032 to meet this target.
In the vote, a handful of the 67 amendments tabled were adopted. The rapporteur welcomed the fact that the plenary had rejected attempts, coming “particularly from the far right”, to weaken the compromise.
An adopted amendment gives Member States more flexibility in the renovation of historic monuments, in particular to avoid altering the character of a building and to comply with rules on conservation.
In particular, an amendment by EPP members to include in the definition of ‘zero-emission buildings’ high-performance buildings where the small proportion of energy still needed is supplied by low-carbon energy distributed via the electricity grid was rejected (276 votes in favour, 313 against, 45 abstentions). One of the supporters of the amendment, François Xavier-Bellamy (EPP, French), criticised his counterparts voting against low-carbon energy. He was highly critical of a text which he considered typical of “the Europe of over-regulation that people hated”.
Ladislav Ilčić from Croatia, speaking on behalf of the ECR group, also felt that citizens were being treated like “children being forced to take a dogmatic and green approach”.
Negotiations with the EU Council will start once the latter has decided on its negotiating position.
See the ‘Cuffe’ report: https://aeur.eu/f/5ry (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with Thomas Mangin)