EU urges overhaul for energy-inefficient buildings

According to data from Eurostat energy balances and the EEA Greenhouse Gas Inventory, 85% of buildings in the EU were constructed before the year 2000. Among these older buildings, 75% exhibit poor energy performance. This highlights the critical importance of improving the energy efficiency of buildings as a means to conserve energy and work towards achieving a zero-emission and fully decarbonized building stock by 2050.

The EU has put in place a legislative framework to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings and achieve a highly energy-efficient and decarbonized building stock by 2050. This framework consists of two directives, namely the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU/2024/1275) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU/2023/1791), both revised in 2023.

These directives aim to provide a stable environment for investment decisions in the sector and empower consumers and businesses with information to make choices that save both energy and money.

Particularly, the revised EPBD include measures about the reduction of primary energy use, the introduction of minimum energy performance standards, enhanced long-term renovation strategies, increased reliability of EPCs and a gradual modernisation of building’s energy system integration.