Letter to Mr Barroso, President of the European Commission

Dear President Barroso,

Re: Adequate framework to tap into the cost-effective energy savings potential of buildings

Our organisations, which together represent the main European providers of energy efficiency materials, solutions and services in buildings, welcome the European Commission’s efforts to define new energy efficiency ambitions to complement the January proposal for a 2030 energy and climate framework. For the business actors that our associations represent, it is encouraging to see that the European Commission is now considering establishing a binding energy efficiency target for 2030 and that it has identified buildings as one of the sectors where massive energy savings can be captured in the realisation of this target.

According to all research, the renovation of buildings in the EU offers the largest single potential for cost-effective energy savings in short-, medium- and long-term timescales, providing substantial multiple benefits such as job creation and energy security. For the EU to capture this full potential, our industry needs to receive a clear signal that large-scale energy savings will be sought in a long-term perspective. This signal must be unambiguous to avoid short-term sub-optimal solutions being applied that lock-in a large part of the savings potential, thus significantly reducing overall savings.

In this context, the nature and level of energy efficiency targets the European Commission will propose for 2030 will be instrumental.

Our associations urge the European Commission to design targets in a way that reflects the building sector’s contribution in full, following a bottom-up assessment of the real cost-effective energy savings potential in the sector. It is essential that the level of the target is in line with the identified cost- effective energy savings for 2030 so as to put Europe on track to realise its 2050 objectives.

Our associations therefore call on the European Commission to ensure that its target proposal includes a specific signal to the building and construction materials industries for the needed mobilisation and long-term planning and investment in this fragmented sector to happen. In our view, the most effective signal should take the form of a sectoral target for buildings as a complement to overall energy efficiency ambitions. Such a target will give credibility to the stated political objectives of the European Commission and is essential to equip stakeholders with the necessary tool to prioritise the realisation of our full savings potential.

The proper formulation of energy efficiency targets for 2030 is of crucial importance, hence our desire to avoid the pitfalls of having only an overall general target that would fail to address the full potential

of the buildings sector. Such a situation will promote “business-as-usual” and thus send the wrong signal to our industry. We therefore count on your willingness to prioritise the buildings sector to set the right framework conditions for a mobilised construction industry to deliver on the promise of massive energy savings.

Yours sincerely,

Recipients:

College of Commissioners

European Commission Secretary-General, Catherine Day

DG Energy Director General, Dominique Ristori

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