EPF calls for EU energy certificate for all buildings

The European Property Federation (EPF) is lobbying the European Commission to introduce a unified energy certification system for the European Union. Michael MacBrien, director of Brussels-based lobby group EPF, believes a single EU-wide system is essential, given the cross-border nature of the property industry. 'Right now everybody has a difference certificate and we would like to go towards the situation where we are talking about the same thing,' MacBrien said in an interview with PropertyEU.

'This would mean that one of my people could say that its new development in Denmark is 20% better that the EU A-Grade certificate for buildings, and that's great because you can advertise that globally.'

The European Commission is currently working on a new directive regulating the energy performance of buildings which should be published as early as this week, according to Martin Elsberger, Policy Officer at the European Commission. 'Cost effectiveness is one of the main points of the new directive,' he pointed out at the Barcelona Meeting Point.

The enactment of a new energy directive follows the European Council's endorsement of Energy Action Plan for member states in March 2007. The plan included the proposal to revise the first Energy Performance of Building Directive which came into force in 2002. The new legislation will set higher obligations on member states, including minimum energy efficiency requirements.

MacBrien said that although the European Commission has been working 'hand-in-hand' with the EPF over the past year, the industry's plea for an EU certificate has yet to be addressed.

'The commission is under pressure not just from the real estate industry but from all the leaders on energy efficiency in the European parliament. Of course the commission needs to have an agreement at the end of the day where both the parliaments and the member states sign up to, but the commission fears that this point in particular will not be signed up by the member states and that this would drag the rest of the directive down,' MacBrien said.
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The full article appears in the December edition of PropertyEU Magazine. Click on the link below to subscribe.