‘Deep’ renovations needed to meet climate goals, French industry warns

Building renovation needs to be full-scale, particularly regarding residential housing, which too often only focuses on heat-related upgrades, the industry said in reaction to recent government initiatives. 

Read the original French article here.

While EU and French climate targets have made the energy-efficient renovation of buildings a priority, France’s building sector still accounts for around 48% of the country’s overall energy consumption and 28% of greenhouse gas emissions, most of which comes from residential housing, according to a Senate report published in July.

To push for more energy-efficient building renovation, France is banking on its flagship “Ma Prime Rénov'” scheme, which in 2020 helped 2.1 million French homes carry out renovation works, according to the French Energy Renovation Observatory.

However, of the 650,000 financing applications filed under the scheme between 2021 and April 2023, only 10% were for “deep” renovations, even though 17% of the country’s housing stock is considered leaky.

In total, only 50,000 to 100,000 homes in France are fully renovated each year, even though achieving carbon neutrality would require 700,000 a year to be fully renovated as of 2030.

Lack of public support

But deep home renovations are currently hampered by several stumbling blocks.

The senators’ report states that the lack of financial and technical support for households in the renovation process is a key obstacle.

A full-scale renovation of residential housing across the country would require €21 billion a year between now and 2030, including €14 billion in public funding, according to a report submitted to French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne in May.

Borne responded favourably to these calls on 9 July, announcing an increase in the budget of Anah, the public agency managing support for energy renovation.

As a result, the yearly budget for “Ma Prime Rénov'” now stands at €4 billion. The government also announced the launch of “Mon Accompagnateur Rénov'” as of 1 January 2024 to provide guidance to homeowners.

France announces more financing for energy renovations

French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne announced on Sunday (9 July) that the government would release an additional €7 billion from 2024 to finance the green transition, part of which will be allocated to energy renovations.

Caution remains

However, environmental groups remain cautious. “We will be vigilant to ensure that this additional sum is allocated to the efficient renovation of housing and not simply to the replacement of boilers”, warned the Climate Action Network (RAC).

The same goes for companies active in the renovation sector.

Knauf Insulation, a leading building insulation manufacturer, recommends that three-quarters of the scheme’s budget go towards the “Performance” chapter, which encourages more insulation, with the remaining quarter going towards changing heating systems, EURACTIV was told.

The aim is primarily to avoid partial and “one-off” renovations – like changing heating systems, which until now have made up a large proportion of renovations. This is something the prime minister’s office agrees with.

Efficiency campaigners are also calling for greater clarity and simplicity in public funding schemes.

“We need a multi-annual energy renovation law because we lack the visibility to invest sufficiently,” explained Knauf Insulation, a position backed by the French industry.

The current ceiling for public aid to home renovations, currently limited to €17,000, should be raised, the company said. In their report, the senators also recommended increasing the aid ceiling to €45,000 for the most modest households.

To ensure full-scale renovations, one of the keys is to have local industry produce environmentally sound materials needed for insulation, the senators also recommended in their report.

This is supported by Knauf Insulation, which calls for greater transparency in the government’s “CarbonScore” scheme aimed at providing a more holistic understanding of the environmental impact of insulation materials.

With these additional resources and tools, the government plans to fully renovate more than 200,000 homes by 2024 through “Ma Prime Rénov'”, before building up to 900,000 full-scale renovations per year by 2030, according to the government’s climate policy calendar, published in July.

“The priority […] is generally home insulation”, the prime minister’s office announced, even when renovation works are spread over time.

According to Knauf Insulation, government expectations for 2024 are achievable even though maintaining the growing rate of renovations remains dependent on long-term financial planning.

“With the collapse of the new-build market, ambitious climate-resilience legislation and the exit from the rental market of small areas used as energy flats – we are not yet giving ourselves the means to promote real action,” the company warned.

[Edited by Frédéric Simon/Alice Taylor]

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