EU’s contested green buildings law limps towards the finishing line

Negotiations on the EU’s Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) are expected to conclude on Thursday evening (7 December), with EU countries set to dilute a proposed mandate to make renovations mandatory.

Tabled by the European Commission in December 2021, the directive’s key objective was to boost Europe’s flagging renovation rate, starting with the 15% worst-performing buildings in each EU member state.

But following protracted negotiations between the European Parliament and EU countries, little of that ambition remains.

The law’s main lever, setting “minimum energy performance standards” (MEPS) for the worst-performing buildings, was effectively neutered by EU member states and replaced with a less targetted approach based on the average energy consumption of the building stock in each country.

Berlin, which formerly championed a more ambitious buildings directive, has now sided with the least ambitious camp.

“Germany calls for more flexibility for member states on how to achieve their targets as regards residential buildings,” reads a note circulated by the German delegation in Brussels ahead of the final negotiations set for Thursday (7 December).

“All other national measures such as funding or economic incentives can be used to achieve the energy saving target set for residential buildings,” it adds.

Other items on the agenda for Thursday’s talks include a fossil fuel heating exit date, including for subsidies, which EU countries will have to include in their national renovation plans following the adoption of the law, as well as a solar rooftop mandate.

Energy-saving targets for residential buildings by 2030 and 2035 are also up for discussion.

Berlin’s about-face

Buildings account for a third of EU energy demand and emit a third of the bloc’s greenhouse gases. Reducing those emissions to zero will be crucial to reach the EU’s obejctive of becoming climate neutral by 2050.

Yet, Europe’s objective of renovating 2% of the EU’s building stock annually has not been met in years, prompting the European Commission to table a review of the EPBD two years ago.

Previous attempts to overhaul the buildings directive have failed repeatedly, due to persistent opposition from EU countries, who resist any sort of obligation from Brussels to make renovations mandatory.

This time around, opposition first came from Poland and Italy while France and Germany initially formed a coalition of ambitious countries who pledged to defend mandatory renovations.

But talks soured when Berlin withdrew its support following an intense government spat over a proposed ban on fossil fuel boilers.

The “worst-first” approach was severely watered down by allowing EU countries to label a whopping 43% of their building stock as worst performing, meaning that more buildings would be eligible for priority renovation. 

“From a climate protection perspective and with a view to social balance, the current state of negotiations on the European Buildings Directive is worrying,” commented Florian Schöne, CEO of German Nature Conservation Ring, a environmental NGO.

The disparity with the initial Commission proposal was “dramatic”, he added, saying the current state of play merely amounts to “business as usual”.

“Germany symbolises the majority of member states: The German government does not want to go beyond the provisions adopted in the latest amendment to the Building Energy Act,” he said.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic and Frédéric Simon]

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