The cities of Amsterdam, Stockholm and Nantes offer good examples of how meaningful progress towards decarbonising the building sector can be achieved, while advancing the EU's broader climate objectives, writes Irene García.
Lack of finance remains the most frequently reported reason why building owners don’t upgrade their homes to a more energy-efficient one. Peter Sweatman lists five “hidden gems” in the recast EU Buildings Directive which can deliver this.
Efficient buildings save energy, money and climate-wrecking emissions. As EU negotiators prepare to hammer out an agreement on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), it is important to highlight that significant innovation is underway in the sector, writes Adrian Joyce.
New data shows the urgency to renovate buildings across Europe, writes Oliver Rapf.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) provides an essential gateway for citizen participation in the energy system, bringing cheaper bills to low-income households through old-fashioned energy efficiency, writes Louise Sunderland.
Geothermal heat, especially when paired with district heating networks for broad local distribution, is an abundant resource just below our feet. Europe needs more of it to decarbonise the building sector and kick its fossil fuel habit, writes a cross-party group of five MEPs.
Building renovations, like those encouraged under the draft Energy Performance of Buildings directive, are key to improving people's well-being and reducing emissions, but they must be flexible and rolled out with social safeguards, writes Ciarán Cuffe.
To combat energy poverty, governments should direct funding to energy efficiency options and clean technologies that offer a structural solution to rising energy bills, rather than supporting fossil fuel heating, writes Vlasios Oikonomou.
Faced with an energy crisis, Positive Energy Neighbourhoods (PENs) could become Europe’s solution for sustainable and energy-efficient urban spaces as it moves forward with the green transition, write Maarten De Groote and Gabi Kaiser.
An efficient Energy Performance of Buildings Directive must look out for the reduction of ‘whole life carbon emissions’ in order to achieve Europe's climate goals, writes Zsolt Toth.
The European Union is nearing an agreement on upgrading the leakiest, most inefficient buildings. This is an apolitical issue that must be kept out of the damaging clutches of politicisation, writes Adrian Joyce.
The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive has the potential to make a real difference in the process of decarbonizing the building stock, as long as high standards for zero emissions and minimum energy performance are maintained, writes Oliver Rapf.
Achieving the green transition requires rapid and large-scale investment from cities, national governments and the private sector acting in unison, writes Mark Watts.
As EU member states prepare to submit their revised National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) to the European Commission on 30 June, they must pay greater attention to energy efficiency, writes Monica Frassoni.
Renovation requirements in the EU's buildings directive can do more than anything else to address energy poverty, but without specific policies to help the most vulnerable people and households they could backlash badly, write Anna Bajomi, Caroline Simpson and Brook Riley.
Current public procurement practices will not put the EU on track to meet its climate goals, even though public spending is widely recognised as a key lever to decarbonise hard-to-abate sectors like road transport and construction, writes Evelin Piirsalu.
Helsinki has been using competitions to encourage sustainable construction and is leading the way in reducing the sector's carbon impact, write Tomi Rantala and Kaisa-Reeta Koskinen.
Europe must triple investments in the annual retrofitting of buildings, starting with the most vulnerable households, in order to meet the EU's 2030 climate targets and curb dependence on fossil gas, writes Júlia López Ventura.
Opening the door to hybrid heat pumps and hydrogen boilers will impact consumers, and make it more difficult for them to transition to clean heating while increasing energy costs, argues Monique Goyens.
The revised directive on the energy performance of buildings should ensure the cost neutrality of renovations and not penalise low and middle-income groups, argue Sorcha Edwards, Christophe Robert, Freek Spinnewijn, and Barbara Steenbergen.
When policymakers address the climate impact of buildings, most of their attention is focused on reducing emissions released during the building’s operation. Embodied emissions – those linked to all the other phases of a building’s whole life – must not be forgotten, writes Roxana Dela Fiamor.
EU policymakers should deliver a comprehensive whole-life carbon roadmap in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. A strong stance on whole-life carbon impacts would have the power to nudge national governments and industry towards decisive climate action, writes Zsolt Toth.
The EPBD revision is our opportunity to make buildings resilient while improving living conditions. For this, we must treat energy efficiency as the ‘first fuel’ and introduce a holistic approach to buildings, leveraging all benefits, across energy, climate and health. Elisabeth …
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought the European Union’s energy dependency issue front and centre, yet energy efficiency is the place to start on the path to energy sovereignty, writes Dominique Bossan.
