We will fail to achieve climate neutrality if we do not substantially reduce consumption and cut CO2 emissions from our homes, offices and the whole built environment, by tripling the current renovation rates. Improving the energy performance of Europe’s building stock is a stepping stone in the path towards full decarbonisation, ensuring energy and resource efficiency, enhancing energy security and promoting renewable energy deployment.
The building sector plays an essential role in the energy transition. Buildings consume around 42% of the EU final energy used by all sectors, and are thus the largest single energy consumer in the EU, while emitting 36% of energy-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Around three-quarters of the European building stock is energy inefficient and 85 to 95 % of the buildings that exist today will still be standing in 2050.. However, current annual energy renovation rates across Europe are extremely low, around 1%, with deep renovations – notably those achieving the highest energy savings – representing just a very small fraction of it.
Therefore, EU-wide energy retrofitting, and sustainable, energy efficient and fully renewables-based construction stand as key actions to not only mitigate climate change, but also in light of the socio-economic benefits they can bring about.
In particular, investing in energy renovation ensures lower energy bills for final consumers, as well as improved health, comfort and indoor air quality, while having the potential to stimulate economic growth and substantial job creation (especially at local level). Through adequate technical and financial support (that prioritises the most in need) and social safeguards, a better performing building stock can also help to alleviate energy poverty and deliver better lives for all.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) is the main EU legal instrument which aims at improving the energy efficiency while fostering renewable energy in buildings, in conjunction with the relevant provisions of the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Renewable Energy Directive.
Yet the existing framework is not enough to be in line with the higher EU 2030 climate ambition, not to mention to comply with the Paris Agreement’s commitment. For this reason, under the European Green Deal, the Commission published in October 2020 the so-called Renovation Wave strategy, an action plan of regulatory, financing and enabling measures aiming at boosting rates and depth of renovations over the next decade. Overall, the different actions foreseen, such as the revision of the EPBD to introduce mandatory minimum energy performance standards for non residential buildings and national trajectories for the progressive renovation of homes, should contribute to at least double the current rate by 2030, in line with the objectives of the Renovation Wave. by 2030.
The EU level of ambition is still inadequate to be in line with the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C. According to the findings of the PAC scenario, in order to achieve climate neutrality by 2040, final energy demand should decrease by 33% by 2030, implying the need to at least triple current annual renovation rates and to maximise deep renovations.