Energy performance of buildings: ALDE MEPs lay the foundations for an energy efficient Europe

The European Parliament has today adopted proposed legislation on the energy performance of buildings. Under the updated rules, member states would have to develop national long-term strategies to support the renovation of residential and non-residential buildings and follow a national roadmap to a highly decarbonised national building stock by 2050, including indicative milestones for 2030 and 2040.

The EU’s building sector absorbs 40% of final energy, and about 75% of buildings are energy inefficient. Only 0.4–1.2% of the stock is renovated each year. This opens a vast potential for energy efficiency gains in Europe as well as economic opportunities in the construction industry.

Morten Helveg Petersen MEP, shadow draftsperson for the ALDE Group in the European Parliament commented after the vote today:

“These proposals are an important breakthrough in the fight to reduce energy consumption. The Parliament’s proposals set out today will help our continent to cut greenhouse gas emissions, reduce our dependence on energy imports, help to bring down energy bills for businesses and households alike and stimulate the creation of thousands of new green jobs in the construction sector. Businesses from across the EU know that lowering their energy costs is essential; this legislation sets a framework that allows them to do so in an intelligent manner.”

“Buildings account for 40% of our energy consumption and 36% of our CO2 emissions. Improving the energy efficiency of buildings is essential if we are to deliver on our Paris commitments on climate change. Our priority must be to use less energy in the first place. By improving the energy efficiency of buildings, we also lower our imports and our dependence on energy from third countries, including Russia.”

More info: nick.petre@europarl.europa.eu