Investors including Allianz Investment Management, ING, Swedbank, Triodos, European Mortgage Federation, and DWS are proposing the EU to incorporate a number of green measures for buildings, including the creation of mandatory minimum carbon performance requirements, as part of the EU Rebuild Europe plan to be unveiled next week.
In a letter sent to the EU Commission, the Energy Efficiency Financial Institutions Group (EEFIG) private sector Steering Committee warned that energy efficiency in buildings has stagnated in Europe but the economic recovery package from the pandemic may give new impulse to this movement and unleash a green renovation wave across Europe.
In addition, EEFIG called on the EU to work with medical associations and health ministries to ‘prescribe’ building retrofits for patients in poor health/with respiratory conditions who live in poor quality housing. A UK pilot for this a few years ago proved successful, the group argued.
Other recommendations include the creation of an EU Building Renovation Fund and the alignment of incentives between commercial building owners and tenants to allow retrofit costs to be shared through building service charges. Also, energy and carbon savings should be accurately measured instead of ‘deeming’ savings.
With a recent EEFIG survey finding that despite the strengthening recognition of the importance of energy efficiency, important legislative reforms and significant resourcing from the Commission through several Horizon 2020 projects, annual investment in energy efficiency in buildings and industry has stagnated in Europe. ‘Energy efficiency investment in buildings and industry is certainly not growing at levels required to reach the Paris Agreement goals,’ said Murray Birt at DWS, which has been advising the EU as a founding member of the EEFIG.
Birt continued: ‘We welcome the European Commission’s intention to take early action on the Renovation Wave in order to also support economic recovery from economic implications of the covid-19 pandemic. We recommend that Europe lead efforts to develop a progressively tightening minimum carbon/energy performance standard for existing buildings, differentiated by building type and Member State.
'We believe that building standards can help activate the whole building supply chain to invest in retrofitting. Just as governments have phased-out inefficient consumer goods products, minimum standards are needed to effectively phase-out inefficient buildings by requiring retrofitting.’
