In the Press

During Commission president Von der Leyen’s mandate, over 30 million buildings will need to be deeply renovated to stay on track to achieve the 2050 climate-neutrality objective. Succeeding in this will make her a true climate champion, having directly improved the quality of life of millions of EU citizens.  Most of the buildings in 2050 already exist today.  Read the full article here.

As European Commission President Von der Leyen and Vice-President Timmermans develop proposals for the keenly anticipated European Green Deal, T&E as well as BEUC, Climate Action Network, Carbon Market Watch, Eurima, WWF and Friends of the Earth Europe urge them to reject the idea of extending the Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to road transport and buildings. Read the full article here.

Plans to extend the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) to cover emissions associated with heating and cooling buildings would not deliver a highly energy-efficient and decarbonized building stock by 2050. For this to happen, the deep renovation of our homes and schools needs to become a flagship initiative under the upcoming European Green Deal. Read the full article here.

Most people think of buildings and construction materials as inert objects. No one sees emissions coming out of bricks. But as heads of states and senior societal actors meet for the climate summit in New York, it’s time to remember the climate impact of Europe’s building stock, writes Femke de Jong. Read the full article here

The circular economy will be an essential building block of a climate-neutral Europe. A circular economy means making the most of our resources, doing more with less while reducing waste and energy use. This is a huge challenge for the construction sector, which uses about half of the resources extracted around the world. Europe can’t build a circular economy without focusing on the built environment. Read more...

Recent years have seen greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption increasing, while 50 million EU citizens live in energy poverty. Addressing climate and social crises requires a green new deal for housing to unlock vast investments in building renovations. Read more...

Stakeholders gather today to exchange on the future use of Level(s), a European voluntary reporting framework to improve the sustainability of buildings. See the full article on EurActiv here.

Europeans spend almost all their time in buildings. For many of us, that means up to 90% of the day is passed in offices and schools, in hospitals and shops, and at home, writes Jan te Bos.  See the full article on EurActiv here.

“Energy efficiency is too expensive, will increase costs to consumers and push people into energy poverty” – this is a claim made by some commentators in Brussels recently. As the Energy Efficiency Directive is being negotiated in the Parliament, Jan Rosenow reveals how much truth there is to such claims. Read the full article on EurActiv

The European Union’s fight against global warming is doomed to fail unless decisive action is taken to change the way we heat and cool our buildings. Read the full article here

I do not exclude the 40% energy efficiency target on condition that all three stages of the energy flow are included, Adam Gierek told EURACTIV Czech Republic. Read the full article here.

Renovating Europe’s building stock isn’t just critical for meeting EU climate and energy savings targets – it will dramatically improve living conditions and health while boosting the overall economy, according to the three MEPs leading the European Parliament’s work on the Energy performance of buildings directive. Read the full article here.

Leading voices from Europe’s building industry have called on the Commission to do more to improve the energy efficiency of Europe’s building stock, saying this would benefit the economy and the climate.  Read here the full article on EurActiv

The EU must focus its legislation on policies that have the most potential to bring change. Unfortunately, its new Effort Sharing Regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions missed an opportunity to drive energy efficient building renovation, which has huge potentital to cut CO2, writes Shradha Abt. Read the full article here.

The European Commission will likely revamp the reporting of national building renovation rates, bringing it under the future oversight framework of the EU’s flagship Energy Union strategy. Read the full article on EurActiv