Dear Ministers,
We write to you to let you know that strong provisions on buildings in the EU Energy Efficiency Directive is a real economic opportunity. Good for business, good for competitiveness and growth, and good for job creation. Energy efficiency lifts our economies from the heavy burden of energy dependency and, in addition to helping us to meet our common climate protection goals, enables public and private revenue to be invested in more valuable areas than energy wastage.
As a result, the building provisions in the EU Energy Efficiency Directive are supported by the broad coalition of leading companies and associations that make up the Renovate Europe Campaign. That Campaign calls for the deep renovation of the EU building stock in order to achieve an 80% reduction in its corresponding energy demand by 2050 as compared to 2005 levels.
The scale of the opportunity is huge: studies1 from various countries show that for every €1 of public resources invested in energy efficiency of buildings, a resulting return on investment of €5 occurs, in some cases within just one year. Add to this the boost that extensive deep renovation of buildings gives to manufacturing, distribution and local jobs and you can see that investment in energy efficiency is a no-regret option.
We therefore call on Finance Ministries to grasp this investment opportunity by:
- Supporting strong provisions on buildings in the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, namely:
- The inclusion of National Renovation Roadmaps for the whole building stock that invites Member States to design their own path towards the 2050 target of an 80% reduction in energy demand from the building stock. Such anticipatory and long-term planning is needed to boost investor, consumer and industry confidence.
- Support a 3% annual renovation rate for all public buildings that shows the way forward and enables the necessary learning that market actors must undertake.
- Supporting programmes for Energy Efficiency in Buildings in your country;
Deep energy renovation of buildings is an investment that leads to high public revenues and, with about 11% of the EU construction workforce currently unemployed, a true stimulus package that will aid economies by creating local, long-term jobs.