New report from BPIE on progress by EU member states to provide their renovation strategies

A new report from the Buildings Performance Institute Europe assesses the compliance of the 14 available long-term renovation strategies (as published on the website of the European Commission on 8 September 2020) against the provisions in Article 2a of the amended 2018 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). EiD earlier this summer wrote about the need for getting our priorities right to reduce GHG emissions through improved energy efficiency in buildings. BPIE shows us that we are far from getting our priorities right. What does it take for a wake-up call?

A review of EU Member States’ 2020 Long-term Renovation Strategies

With building renovations being crucial for climate mitigation, tackling energy poverty and now economic recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic, long-term renovation strategies (LTRS) are an even more an essential planning tool than ever. They offer opportunities to decarbonise the building sector, improve living and working conditions of EU citizens and support economic recovery through new local jobs.

However, six months after the deadline for their submission to the European Commission on 10 March 2020, more than half of EU Member States have still not yet presented their strategies.

The assessment of available LTRS (as published on the website of the European Commission on 15 September 2020) finds available strategies to be largely non-compliant with provisions of the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), in particular Article 2a. All but one strategy (Spain) are deficient in many areas, such as assessing the wider benefits of building renovation, in presenting the implementation details of the 2017 renovation strategies, and in consulting with the public on the strategy and its implementation.

The analysis shows that Member States need to immediately step up effort to rapidly decarbonise the building stock. Many Member States still do not seem to prioritise action in the building sector, which is central to climate mitigation and to improving living conditions of Europeans, with the urgency that is needed.  Second, those Member States that still do not have a fully-fledged LTRS could miss the opportunity to access new funds from the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility to help finance its implementation.  Third, a delay in LTRS submission hampers and slows down the work of the European Commission, which still lacks a full up-to date picture of progress (and future plans) on building renovations in each EU country.

The report is available here.