The Paris Olympic Games have opted for low-carbon construction and the repurposing of existing facilities for its sports infrastructure. The target is to produce half the emissions of the Rio and London games.
Paris is getting climate fit for July's Olympic Games. The Olympic Village is vaunted as an experimental model showcasing adaptations France needs for 2050's climate shift, and Olympic athletes could be modelling future living for the rest of Europe.
A newly-adopted compromise on the EU’s new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is already being met with some scepticism from German lawmakers, who fear that the law will interfere with domestic rules.
Fossil fuel boilers will need to be completely phased out by 2040 and subsidies cut from 2025 as part of a political agreement reached by EU legislators on Thursday evening (7 December) to revamp the bloc’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
Negotiations on the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) are expected to conclude on Thursday evening (7 December), with EU countries set to dilute a proposed mandate to make renovations mandatory.
Lawmakers made headway during a marathon negotiating session on Friday (13 October) to overhaul the EU’s buildings directive, but progress came at the cost of the proposal’s core mechanism to introduce mandatory renovation benchmarks.
Germany’s two most influential business associations, BDEW and BDI, have launched a last-minute push in support of the EU buildings directive, in a bid to persuade lawmakers to adopt an ambitious stance on housing renovation.
German civil society has asked Berlin to back a controversial European Commission proposal to make renovating worst-performing buildings obligatory before buildings directive negotiations continue after the summer.
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.
High interest rates and a surge in material costs have seen Germany’s pace of construction falter, prompting industry concerns at a time when talks on EU renovation initiatives are stalling.
The European Parliament passed new rules on Tuesday (12 July) to standardise construction products in the EU, amid criticism from the Greens who say the law does nothing to transform the industry.
While EU lawmaking progresses at a breakneck pace, government infighting in Germany has stalled a revised energy efficiency law for over a year, adding a failed parliament vote to its list of woes.
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.
Europe’s power system will face additional strain in winter as the electrification of heating progresses, making the renovation of buildings an essential element to reduce strain on the electricity grid and optimise the performance of heat pumps.
A reform of the rules governing the EU’s trade in construction products has won crucial backing from the European Parliament’s internal market committee, but with environmentalists complaining it was too soft on industry demands.
A proposed update of the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive could threaten Europe's cultural heritage, lawmakers and associations have warned, drawing attention to the thousands of unlisted buildings which could potentially fall under the directive's renovation obligation.
The Slovak Environmental Agency launched the submission of applications in the third call of the Renew House programme on Monday morning.
The European Parliament approved its stance on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) on Tuesday (14 March), setting out a more ambitious position ahead of negotiations with EU countries.
Revamping Europe's building stock is not only expected to reduce energy bills and help tackle climate change, it is also widely supported by the construction sector, which sees a business opportunity in renovation.
As the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive enters the home stretch, it faces a first crucial test in the European Parliament this week, where opposition is lying in wait.
After thwarting a proposed EU ban on new fossil fuel cars, Germany's liberal FDP party is now launching an attack on the EU's buildings directive, which envisages a Europe-wide renovation obligation to reduce the sector's emissions.
EU lawmakers have agreed to increase the ambition of the bloc’s energy efficiency directive, making energy savings of 11.7% by 2030 mandatory in a bid to further the bloc's climate and energy independence goals.
The European Parliament has adopted its position on the revision of the EU buildings directive, putting it on collision course with the 27 EU countries as EU lawmakers seek to boost renovation rates in the bloc.
The European Parliament's political parties have agreed to a joint position on the reform of the EU’s buildings directive, saving EU-wide minimum energy performance standards while opening the door to contentious hydrogen-based heating.
