Draft Taxonomy Regulation risks undermining Renovation Wave
EU Taxonomy defines what qualifies or not as a ‘green’ investment. The current draft guidelines allow very weak renovations – just 30% energy savings – to meet taxonomy requirements. To ensure a clear signal to investors and make sure the Green Deal delivers its full social, economic, and environmental potential, we urge the Commission to increase the current 30% energy savings requirement to at least 60%. download the document
REDay2020 – #Renovate2Recover
“This is YOUR moment,” was the key message from Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans on 27th October at Renovate Europe Day 2020 (REDay2020). Referring to the National Recovery and Resilience Plans that Member States must submit, Timmermans emphasized widespread support for renovation: “I have never seen such enthusiasm from Member States for any initiative (…) they know that renovation is low-hanging fruit for low emissions and job creation” go to the event page
Towards EU Member States Economic Recovery: The potential of buildings in delivering jobs and a better quality of life.
Maria Spyraki MEP is the rapporteur for the opinion “Maximising the energy efficiency potential of the EU building stock” on behalf of the European Parliament’s Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI). The EU has long been considered a frontrunner in the field of climate and environment policy. In that perspective, the European Green Deal, a set of policy initiatives by the European Commission with the overarching aspiration of making Europe climate neutral in 2050, aims for the EU transition to a climate neutral, modern,…
Creating a dedicated Renovation Fund in the EU Recovery and Resilience Initiative
The European Union is planning to assign a vast amount of money to its Recovery and Resilience Initiative, intended to lift the EU economy out of the recession provoked by the global public health pandemic and to put the EU economy firmly on the path to climate neutrality by 2050. Among the sectors recognised at all political levels as holding the most promise for stimulating the economy, is the energy renovation of our building stock. In general, the building stock in the EU can be described as old, inefficient and in need of renovation. For this reason, the…
Beneficial Undercurrents for the Renovation Wave
By Adrian Joyce, Director of the Renovate Europe Campaign The Renovate Europe Campaign (REC) impatiently awaits the text of the European Commission Communication and Action Plan on creating a Renovation Wave in the EU. We are encouraged that the huge energy saving potential of the building stock in the EU is at last being mentioned at the highest political levels across the EU and in its Member States. Still, we are concerned that turning words into actions will still elude our national leaders and so we asked the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) to undertake a Study on the…
OP-ED Energy renovation is the perfect recovery measure for post-COVID-19
By Adrian Joyce, Director of the Renovate Europe Campaign As COVID-19 keeps millions of European employees and students at home, and wreaks havoc on our economies, we should already be considering how we can use the EU Green Deal (EGD) to kickstart a rebound in the post-pandemic period. At Renovate Europe, we see energy renovation as a great means to contain the economic fallout. Millions of public sector buildings are currently empty and may remain so – particularly schools – for the coming 3-6 months. Quick action by policy makers, backed with financial stimulus, to support an…