European Council requires zero-emission buildings by 2050.
The week, The European Council agreed on a proposal that revised the Energy Performance of Building Directives. These revisions will ultimately make it so that all new buildings should be zero-emissions buildings by 2030, and all existing buildings will be transformed into zero emissions buildings by 2050.
These revisions follow initial proposals made by the European Commission in December of 2021 that laid out rules for the energy performance of buildings within the European green deal and to help decarbonize the EU’s building stock by 2050.
“Buildings are the single largest energy consumer in Europe, using 40% of our energy, and creating 36% of our greenhouse gas emissions. That is because most buildings in the EU are not energy efficient and are still mostly powered by fossil fuels. We need to do something about this urgently, as over 85% of today's buildings will still be standing in 2050, when Europe must be climate neutral. Improving our homes is also an effective response to high energy prices – the worst-performing buildings in the EU consume many times more energy as new or properly renovated ones. And it's often the most vulnerable who live in the least efficient houses and therefore struggle to pay the bills. Renovation reduces both the energy footprint of buildings and the energy costs for households, while also boosting economic activity and job creation." - Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson.
Directly from the European Council, there are some exceptions and regulations depending on whether or not the buildings are new, old, publicly owned, or residential or not. Some of the agreements include but are not limited to the following:
From 2028 all new buildings that are owned by public bodies will be zero-emission buildings.
From 2030 all new buildings would be zero-emissions.
All existing buildings will be required to meet minimum energy performance standards that are implemented in hopes that they will trigger renovations and/or the phasing out of poor performing buildings.
For non-residential buildings there will be maximum energy performance thresholds based on primary energy use, with goals to have all buildings below the 25% threshold by 2034.
For existing residential buildings, member states agreed to set minimum energy performance standards based on a national trajectory in line with the progressive renovation of their building stock into a zero-emission building stock by 2050.
Lastly, the EU also envisions the requirement to deploy solar energy installations on all new public and non-residential buildings over 250 square meters by the end of 2026, and on all new residential buildings by the end of 2029.
Some of the end goals of these changes is not only to reduce impact on the climate, but to also help create local jobs, support innovation, and to reduce excessive energy usage and lower energy bills of households and by extension, alleviate energy poverty. Sustainability moving forward is the number one priority and these revisions are part of the Commission's “Fit for 55” proposals to deliver on the European Green Deal and the European Climate Law.
Sources:
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/IP_21_6683
https://www.esgtoday.com/eu-proposes-rules-requiring-all-new-buildings-to-be-zero-emission-by-2030/
https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2022/10/25/fit-for-55-council-agrees-on-stricter-rules-for-energy-performance-of-buildings/
