The green building industry is calling on national governments to ensure renovation strategies are as ambitious as possible…
Under the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive, member states have a year to complete official national renovation strategies and submit them. These plans will focus on how national governments can cut greenhouse gas emissions caused by the existing building stock.
Currently, some 36 per cent of the bloc’s carbon emissions are caused by the existing building stock. The World Green Building Council (WorldGBC) called upon member states to develop ambitious programmes capable of meeting carbon reduction targets in the EU.
James Drinkwater, director of the WorldGBC’s Europe Regional Network, said: “Emissions from existing buildings are one of the biggest climate challenges facing Europe and curbing them will be absolutely critical if we are to meet the ambition of the Paris Agreement.
“Europe is doing a huge amount on energy efficient renovation, but it’s not adding up to the results we need because of a lack of coordination.”
The call follows the launch of the BUILD UPON initiative, which brought together 13 Green Building Councils from across Europe to promote best practice renovation strategies. It is hoped the initiative will enable agencies working on energy efficiency programmes to work more effectively.
“Countries now have just one year to put in place renovation strategies strong enough to meet this challenge, and this will require unprecedented collaboration from governments, industry, and a range of other organisations,” he said.
“This is where the BUILD UPON project can help – bringing actors together to establish strong, coherent national strategies to transform Europe’s ageing and inefficient building stock.
“We urge these countries to work with us and our partners to develop ambitious, coordinated strategies.”
Patty Fong, Programme Director of the Energy Efficiency Programme at the European Climate Foundation and a BUILD UPON board member said: “The EU is in the process of revising major laws that will decide the role that Europe’s building sector plays in achieving Paris’ ambition.
“What we really need is political and industry leadership with a long-term vision for the deep renovation of our building stock so we’re able to meet our collective climate targets, and strong national renovation strategies have a clear role to play in this – which is why our network is partnering with BUILD UPON.”
