The Union is committed to developing a sustainable, competitive, secure and decarbonised energy system. The Energy Union and the Energy and Climate Policy Framework for 2030 establish ambitious Union commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions further by at least 40 % by 2030 as compared with 1990, to increase the proportion of renewable energy consumed, to make energy savings in accordance with Union level ambitions, and to improve Europe’s energy security, competitiveness and sustainability.
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To reach those objectives, the 2016 review of the Union’s energy efficiency legislative acts combines a reassessment of the Union’s energy efficiency target for 2030 as requested by the European Council’s conclusions of 2014, a review of the core provisions of Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), and a reinforcement of the financing framework, including the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), which will ultimately improve the financial conditions of energy efficiency investments on the market.
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Directive 2010/31/EU required the Commission to carry out a review by 1 January 2017 in the light of the experience gained and progress made during the application of that Directive, and, if necessary, to make proposals.
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To prepare for that review, the Commission took a series of steps to gather evidence on how Directive 2010/31/EU had been implemented in the Member States, focusing on what worked and what could be improved.
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The outcome of the review and the Commission’s impact assessment indicated that a series of amendments are required to strengthen the current provisions of Directive 2010/31/EU and to simplify certain aspects.
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The Union is committed to developing a sustainable, competitive, secure and decarbonised energy system by 2050. To meet that goal, Member States and investors need measures that aim to reach the long-term greenhouse gas emission goal and that decarbonise the building stock, which is responsible for approximately 36 % of all CO2 emissions in the Union, by 2050. Member States should seek a cost-efficient equilibrium between decarbonising energy supplies and reducing final energy consumption. To that end, Member States and investors need a clear vision to guide their policies and investment decisions, which includes indicative national milestones and actions for energy efficiency to achieve the short-term (2030), mid-term (2040) and long-term (2050) objectives. With those objectives in mind and considering the Union’s overall energy efficiency ambitions, it is essential that Member States specify the expected output of their long-term renovation strategies and monitor developments by setting domestic progress indicators, subject to national conditions and developments.
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The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change following the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) boosts the Union’s efforts to decarbonise its building stock. Taking into account that almost 50 % of Union’s final energy consumption is used for heating and cooling, of which 80 % is used in buildings, the achievement of the Union’s energy and climate goals is linked to the Union’s efforts to renovate its building stock by giving priority to energy efficiency, making use of the ‘energy efficiency first’ principle as well as considering deployment of renewables.
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The provisions on long-term renovation strategies laid down in Directive 2012/27/EU should be moved to Directive 2010/31/EU, where they fit more coherently. Member States should be able to use their long-term renovation strategies to address fire safety and risks related to intense seismic activity which affect energy efficiency renovations and the lifetime of buildings.
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To achieve a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock and to ensure that the long-term renovation strategies deliver the necessary progress towards the transformation of existing buildings into nearly zero-energy buildings, in particular by an increase in deep renovations, Member States should provide clear guidelines and outline measurable, targeted actions as well as promote equal access to financing, including for the worst performing segments of the national building stock, for energy-poor consumers, for social housing and for households subject to split-incentive dilemmas, while taking into consideration affordability. To further support the necessary improvements in their national rental stock, Member States should consider introducing or continuing to apply requirements for a certain level of energy performance for rental properties, in accordance with the energy performance certificates.
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According to the Commission’s impact assessment, renovation would be needed at an average rate of 3 % annually to accomplish the Union’s energy efficiency ambitions in a cost-effective manner. Considering that every 1 % increase in energy savings reduces gas imports by 2,6 %, clear ambitions for renovation of the existing building stock are of great importance. Thus, efforts to increase the energy performance of buildings would contribute actively to the Union’s energy independence and, furthermore, have great potential to create jobs in the Union, in particular in small and medium-sized enterprises. In that context, Member States should take into account the need for a clear link between their long-term renovation strategies and pertinent initiatives to promote skills development and education in the construction and energy efficiency sectors.
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The need to alleviate energy poverty should be taken into account, in accordance with criteria defined by the Member States. While outlining national actions that contribute to the alleviation of energy poverty in their renovation strategies, the Member States have the right to establish what they consider to be relevant actions.
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In their long-term renovation strategies and in planning actions and measures, Member States could make use of concepts such as trigger points, namely opportune moments in the life cycle of a building, for example from a cost-effectiveness or disruption perspective, for carrying out energy efficiency renovations.
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The 2009 World Health Organisation guidelines provide that, concerning indoor air quality, better performing buildings provide higher comfort levels and wellbeing for their occupants and improve health. Thermal bridges, inadequate insulation and unplanned air pathways can result in surface temperatures below the dew point of the air and in dampness. It is therefore essential to ensure a complete and homogeneous insulation of the building including balconies, fenestrations, roofs, walls, doors and floors, and particular attention should be paid to preventing the temperature on any inner surface of the building from dropping below the dew point temperature.
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Member States should support energy performance upgrades of existing buildings that contribute to achieving a healthy indoor environment, including through the removal of asbestos and other harmful substances, preventing the illegal removal of harmful substances, and facilitating compliance with existing legislative acts such as Directives 2009/148/EC (6) and (EU) 2016/2284 (7) of the European Parliament and of the Council.
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It is important to ensure that measures to improve the energy performance of buildings do not focus only on the building envelope, but include all relevant elements and technical systems in a building, such as passive elements that participate in passive techniques aiming to reduce the energy needs for heating or cooling, the energy use for lighting and for ventilation and hence improve thermal and visual comfort.
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Financial mechanisms, incentives and the mobilisation of financial institutions for energy efficiency renovations in buildings should have a central role in national long-term renovation strategies and be actively promoted by Member States. Such measures should include encouraging energy efficient mortgages for certified energy efficient building renovations, promoting investments for public authorities in an energy efficient building stock, for example by public-private partnerships or optional energy performance contracts, reducing the perceived risk of the investments, providing accessible and transparent advisory tools and assistance instruments such as one-stop-shops that provide integrated energy renovation services, as well as implementing other measures and initiatives such as those referred to in the Commission’s Smart Finance for Smart Buildings Initiative.
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Solutions based on nature, such as well-planned street vegetation, green roofs and walls providing insulation and shade to buildings, contribute to reducing energy demand by limiting the need for heating and cooling and improving a building’s energy performance.
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Research into, and the testing of, new solutions for improving the energy performance of historical buildings and sites should be encouraged, while also safeguarding and preserving cultural heritage.
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For new buildings and buildings undergoing major renovations, Member States should encourage high-efficiency alternative systems, if technically, functionally and economically feasible, while also addressing the issues of healthy indoor climate conditions, fire safety and risks related to intense seismic activity, in accordance with domestic safety regulations.
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To meet the objectives of energy efficiency policy for buildings, the transparency of energy performance certificates should be improved by ensuring that all necessary parameters for calculations, both for certification and minimum energy performance requirements, are set out and applied consistently. Member States should adopt adequate measures to ensure, for example, that the performance of installed, replaced or upgraded technical building systems, such as for space heating, air-conditioning or water heating, is documented in view of building certification and compliance checking.
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The installation of self-regulating devices in existing buildings for the separate regulation of the temperature in each room or, where justified, in a designated heated zone of the building unit should be considered where economically feasible, for example where the cost is less than 10 % of the total costs of the replaced heat generators.
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Innovation and new technology also make it possible for buildings to support the overall decarbonisation of the economy, including the transport sector. For example, buildings can be leveraged for the development of the infrastructure necessary for the smart charging of electric vehicles and also provide a basis for Member States, if they choose to, to use car batteries as a source of power.
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Combined with an increased share of renewable electricity production, electric vehicles produce fewer carbon emissions resulting in better air quality. Electric vehicles constitute an important component of a clean energy transition based on energy efficiency measures, alternative fuels, renewable energy and innovative solutions for the management of energy flexibility. Building codes can be effectively used to introduce targeted requirements to support the deployment of recharging infrastructure in car parks of residential and non-residential buildings. Member States should provide for measures to simplify the deployment of recharging infrastructure with a view to addressing barriers such as split incentives and administrative complications which individual owners encounter when trying to install a recharging point on their parking space.
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Ducting infrastructure provides the right conditions for the rapid deployment of recharging points if and where they are needed. Member States should ensure the development of electromobility in a balanced and cost-effective way. In particular, where a major renovation related to electrical infrastructure takes place, the pertinent installation of ducting infrastructure should follow. In the implementation of the requirements for electromobility in national legislation, Member States should duly consider potential diverse conditions such as ownership of buildings and the adjacent parking lots, public parking lots operated by private entities and buildings that have both a residential and a non-residential function.
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Readily available infrastructure will decrease the costs of installation of recharging points for individual owners and ensure electric vehicle users have access to recharging points. Establishing requirements for electromobility at Union level concerning the pre-equipping of parking spaces and the installation of recharging points is an effective way to promote electric vehicles in the near future while enabling further development at a reduced cost in the medium to long term.
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When Member States establish their requirements for the installation of a minimum number of recharging points for non-residential buildings with more than 20 parking spaces, which are to apply from 2025, they should take into account relevant national, regional and local conditions, as well as possible diversified needs and circumstances based on area, building typology, public transport coverage and other relevant criteria, in order to ensure the proportionate and appropriate deployment of recharging points.
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However, some geographical areas with specific vulnerabilities may face specific difficulties in fulfilling the requirements on electromobility. This could be the case for the outermost regions within the meaning of Article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), due to their remoteness, insularity, small size, difficult topography and climate, as well as micro isolated systems, whose electricity grid might need to evolve to cope with a further electrification of local transport. In such cases, Member States should be allowed not to apply the requirements of electromobility. Notwithstanding that derogation, the electrification of transport may be a powerful tool to address air quality or security of supply problems which those regions and systems often face.
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When applying the requirements for electromobility infrastructure provided for in the amendments to Directive 2010/31/EU, as set out in this Directive, Member States should consider the need for holistic and coherent urban planning as well as the promotion of alternative, safe and sustainable modes of transport and their supporting infrastructure, for example through dedicated parking infrastructure for electric bicycles and for the vehicles of people of reduced mobility.
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The agendas of the Digital Single Market and the Energy Union should be aligned and should serve common goals. The digitalisation of the energy system is quickly changing the energy landscape, from the integration of renewables to smart grids and smart-ready buildings. In order to digitalise the building sector, the Union’s connectivity targets and ambitions for the deployment of high-capacity communication networks are important for smart homes and well-connected communities. Targeted incentives should be provided to promote smart-ready systems and digital solutions in the built environment. This offers new opportunities for energy savings, by providing consumers with more accurate information about their consumption patterns, and by enabling the system operator to manage the grid more effectively.
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The smart readiness indicator should be used to measure the capacity of buildings to use information and communication technologies and electronic systems to adapt the operation of buildings to the needs of the occupants and the grid and to improve the energy efficiency and overall performance of buildings. The smart readiness indicator should raise awareness amongst building owners and occupants of the value behind building automation and electronic monitoring of technical building systems and should give confidence to occupants about the actual savings of those new enhanced-functionalities. Use of the scheme for rating the smart readiness of buildings should be optional for Member States.
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In order to adapt Directive 2010/31/EU to technical progress, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission to supplement that directive by establishing the definition of the smart readiness indicator and a methodology by which it is to be calculated. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (8). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.
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In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of Directive 2010/31/EU, as amended by this Directive, implementing powers regarding the modalities for implementing an optional common Union scheme for rating the smart readiness of buildings should be conferred on the Commission. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (9).
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To ensure that financial measures related to energy efficiency are applied in the best way in building renovation, they should be linked to the quality of the renovation works in light of the targeted or achieved energy savings. Those measures should therefore be linked to the performance of the equipment or material used for the renovation, to the level of certification or qualification of the installer, to an energy audit, or to the improvement achieved as a result of the renovation, which should be assessed by comparing energy performance certificates issued before and after the renovation, by using standard values or by another transparent and proportionate method.
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The current independent control systems for energy performance certificates can be used for compliance checking and should be strengthened to ensure certificates are of good quality. Where the independent control system for energy performance certificates is complemented by an optional database going beyond the requirements of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by this Directive, it can be used for compliance checking and for producing statistics on the regional or national building stocks. High-quality data on the building stock is needed and this could be partially generated by the databases that almost all Member States are currently developing and managing for energy performance certificates.
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According to the Commission’s impact assessment, provisions concerning the inspections of heating systems and air-conditioning systems were found to be inefficient because they did not sufficiently ensure the initial and continued performance of those technical systems. Even cheap energy efficiency technical solutions with very short payback periods, such as hydraulic balancing of the heating system and the installation or replacement of thermostatic control valves, are insufficiently considered today. The provisions on inspections should be amended to ensure a better result from inspections. Those amendments should place the focus of inspections on central heating systems and air-conditioning systems, including where those systems are combined with ventilation systems. Those amendments should exclude small heating systems such as electric heaters and wood stoves when they fall below the thresholds for inspection pursuant to Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by this Directive.
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When carrying out inspections and in order to achieve the intended building energy performance improvements in practice, the aim should be to improve the actual energy performance of heating systems, air-conditioning systems and ventilation systems under real-life use conditions. The actual performance of such systems is governed by the energy used under dynamically varying typical or average operating conditions. Such conditions require at most times only a part of the nominal output capacity, and therefore inspections of heating systems, air-conditioning systems and ventilation systems should include an assessment of the relevant capabilities of the equipment to improve system performance under varying conditions, such as part load operating conditions.
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Building automation and electronic monitoring of technical building systems have proven to be an effective replacement for inspections, in particular for large systems, and hold great potential to provide cost-effective and significant energy savings for both consumers and businesses. The installation of such equipment should be considered to be the most cost-effective alternative to inspections in large non-residential and multi-apartment buildings of a sufficient size that allow a payback of less than three years, as it enables action to be taken on the information provided, thereby securing energy savings over time. For small-scale installations, the documentation of the system performance by installers should support the verification of compliance with the minimum requirements laid down for all technical building systems.
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The current possibility for Member States to opt for measures based on the provision of advice as an alternative to the inspection of heating systems, air-conditioning systems, systems for combined heating and ventilation and systems for combined air-conditioning and ventilation is to be retained, provided that the overall impact has, by means of submitting a report to the Commission, been documented as being equivalent to the effect of inspection prior to application of those measures.
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The implementation of regular inspection schemes for heating and air-conditioning systems under Directive 2010/31/EU involved a significant administrative and financial investment by Member States and the private sector, including for the training and accreditation of experts, quality assurance and control, as well as the costs of inspections. Member States that have adopted the necessary measures to establish regular inspections, and that have implemented effective inspection schemes, may find it appropriate to continue to operate those schemes, including for smaller heating and air-conditioning systems. In such cases, there should be no obligation for Member States to notify those more stringent requirements to the Commission.
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Without prejudice to the Member States’ choice to apply the set of standards, related to energy performance of buildings, developed under Commission mandate M/480 to the European Committee for Standardisation (CEN), the recognition and promotion of those standards across the Member States would have a positive impact on the implementation of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by this Directive.
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Commission Recommendation (EU) 2016/1318 (10) on nearly zero-energy buildings described how the implementation of Directive 2010/31/EU could simultaneously ensure the transformation of the building stock and the shift to a more sustainable energy supply, which also supports the heating and cooling strategy. To make sure appropriate implementation takes place, the general framework for the calculation of the energy performance of buildings should be updated and the improved performance of the building envelope should be encouraged with the support of the work elaborated by CEN, under Commission mandate M/480. Member States are able to choose to further supplement this by providing additional numerical indicators, for example for the entire building’s overall energy use or greenhouse gas emissions.
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This Directive should not prevent Member States from setting more ambitious energy performance requirements for buildings and for building elements as long as such requirements are compatible with Union law. It is consistent with the objectives of Directives 2010/31/EU and 2012/27/EU that those requirements may, in certain circumstances, limit the installation or use of products subject to other applicable Union harmonisation legislation, provided that such requirements do not constitute an unjustifiable market barrier.
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Since the objective of this Directive, namely to reduce the energy needed to meet the energy demand associated with the typical use of buildings, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the guaranteed consistency of shared objectives, understanding and political drive, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve that objective.
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This Directive fully respects the Member States’ national specificities and differences and their competences in accordance with Article 194(2) TFEU. Further, the aim of this Directive is to allow the sharing of best practices in order to facilitate the transition to a highly energy efficient building stock in the Union.
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In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents (11), Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified.
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Directives 2010/31/EU and 2012/27/EU should therefore be amended accordingly,
