What is the European Energy Performance of Buildings Directive?
Adopted in 2002 and in force since 2006, the European Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) is part of the legacy of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to empower the EU to achieve its ambitions to limit global warming and encourage sustainability.
Buildings in the European Union are responsible for 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Improving their energy performance is therefore a fundamental and priority issue for reducing the EU’s total consumption. The directive is based on four key principles:
- A common methodology to compute the integrated energy performance of buildings.
- Minimum standards for the energy performance of new buildings and existing buildings undergoing major renovations (to be defined nationally by each Member State)
- Certification schemes for new and existing buildings and, in public buildings, the display of certificates and other relevant information. Certification is only valid for 5 years.
- Regular inspection of boilers and central air-conditioning systems in buildings and assessment of a heating installation when it includes boilers older than 15 years.
The european ambition to make buildings carbon neutral
First revised in 2010, the Directive was revised once again in 2018 to accelerate cost-effective renovation of existing buildings and promote smart technologies. In March 2023, the European Parliament adopted with a large majority a new revision of the directive, proposed in 2021 by the Commission. This new revision is part of the “EU fit for 55” plan whose main objective is to achieve climate neutrality by 2050 and to reduce GHG emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990.
The revision of the directive, adopted in March 2023, aims to
- Achieve climate neutrality of the building sector by 2050.
- Accelerate the pace and scale of renovation of non-energy efficient buildings.
- Provide more information on the energy performance of buildings.
TO KNOW MORE
GHG EMISSIONS
- From 2026: all new buildings occupied, operated, or owned by public authorities must be zero emission.
- From 2028: all new buildings must be zero-emission and equipped with solar technologies where technically possible.
ENERGY PERFORMANCE LABEL
- Non-residential and public buildings shall achieve a minimum energy performance class of E by 2027 and D by 2030.
- Residential buildings shall achieve a minimum energy performance class of E by 2030 and D by 2033.
- In order to take into account the diversity of the building stock across the EU, the G class will correspond to the lowest performing 15% of the national building stock.
NATIONAL EXCEPTIONS:
- States may exempt public social housing.
- Monuments are excluded from the new rules and states may exempt buildings protected for their architectural or historical value.
What implications for assets owners & occupants ?
While waiting for this revision of the directive to be transposed into national law in the EU countries, we can already anticipate that European governments will have to implement more ambitious action plans than those already in place and that this will most likely be accompanied by more restrictive regulations: on the obligation to carry out energy renovations, on minimum energy performance labels, on the use of more energy-efficient equipment, on the provision of information systems, on the use of a more responsible energy mix, etc.
Besides, property managers will have to comply with ESG reporting standards and regulations as the European Taxonomy and the Corporate Sustainable Reporting Directive (CSRD) are coming into force.
Asset owners and occupants have every interest in integrating ambitious energy performance objectives into their investment strategy and defining an action plan to achieve them. Now is the time to take action to anticipate constraints and become first-in-class in the buildings sector.
Oxand supports you in defining your sustainable investment strategy :
To empower you to make your buildings more sustainable, we digitize your assets portfolio data in our software Oxand Simeo, and create an easy-to-implement and preventive asset management strategy with you. Thanks to Oxand Simeo you can:
- VISUALIZE your assets’ data and CENTRALIAZE your knowledge.
- PROJECT the evolution of your assets’ components over time on energy performance and ageing.
- SIMULATE investment scenarios and their impact on the performance of your assets to ease decision making.
- PILOT your plan and make sure it is always optimized.