16.04.2024

EU Member States have adopted the Buildings Directive

The directive on the energy performance of buildings was adopted by the member states, reports Euractiv.

Legislation sets out the framework for Member States to reduce emissions and energy use in buildings across the EU, from homes and workplaces to schools, hospitals and other public buildings. This is expected to help improve people's health and quality of life.

The revised directive sets ambitious targets to reduce the overall energy consumption of buildings across the EU, taking national specificities into account. It leaves it up to member states which buildings to target and what measures to take. This will stimulate the demand for clean technologies in Europe and create jobs, investment and growth," the European Commission said in an official statement.

At the end of 2021, the Commission proposed a revision of the bloc's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) to increase weak renovation rates and tackle a third of the EU's CO2 emissions.

After protracted negotiations – and uncertainty over whether the law could be agreed – EU countries adopted the regulation by a narrow majority.

Italy and Hungary voted against, while Croatia, the Czech Republic, Sweden, Slovenia and Poland abstained.

What does the directive provide?

The text, now entering EU law, aims to prepare Europe's housing stock to reach net zero by 2050 by prescribing the renovation of inefficient public and private buildings.

Each Member State will adopt its own national trajectory to reduce the average primary energy consumption of residential buildings by 16% by 2030 and by 20-22% by 2035. As for non-residential buildings, they will have to 16% of the worst-performing buildings by 2030 and 26% of the worst-performing buildings by 2033. Member States will be able to exempt certain categories of residential and non-residential buildings from these obligations, including historic buildings or holiday homes . Citizens will be supported in their efforts to improve their homes. The directive calls for the creation of a one-stop shop for advice on building renovation, and provisions on public and private funding will make renovation more accessible and feasible.

From 2030, new buildings must be climate-friendly in design – both energy efficient and connected to a clean heat source.

These national plans could also include a path to phasing out fossil fuels for heating by 2040 and mandatory solar panels on roofs, if economically feasible, from 2025.

The 27 EU member states where these plans must be developed are now underway.

The industry is ready

For the building sector – from insulation manufacturers to suppliers of smart temperature controls – the law means a welcome boost to sales.

The energy efficiency industry is ready to deliver and make efficient buildings Europe's next industrial success," said Julie Kestrup, president of industry association EuroACE.

German heavy industry association BDI, which was heavily involved in the creation of the law, said:

The EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) should give an important boost to climate protection in Europe."

Deneff, another energy efficiency association, called the adoption

an urgently needed step in the right direction, both for climate protection and for the under-pressure renovation industry."