“The European Union has set a target to develop a sustainable, competitive, secure, and decarbonised energy system by 2050, and the built environment has a major role to play in accomplishing this goal.
\nThe majority of the existing European building stock originates from the period of low requirements on energy performance that followed World War II, and at present about 75% of buildings are highly inefficient, consuming about 40% of total energy produced in Europe. 80% of today\u2019s building stock is projected to still be in use in 2050, but presently only about 1% of it is renovated each year. Therefore, existing buildings have a large potential for energy performance improvement, especially in colder regions. As energy savings are generally proportional to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) requires EU member states to carry out broad renovation programs of existing buildings by 2050 to achieve a highly energy efficient building stock and a carbon neutral economy.
\nTo pursue this ambition European Commission has set the energy performance into strong focus of the commitments in the European Green Deal. As the EU is striving to be the first climate-neutral continent, a separate strategy \u201cA Renovation Wave for Europe \u2013 Greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives””1 was published in October 2020 that commits to the twin challenge of energy performance and affordability. It is expected that this initiative will set a vision for the short, medium, and long term to kick-start and deliver different levels of renovations of the existing building stock \u2013 private and public, with accompanying financial instruments and mechanisms.
\nThe Renovation Wave Strategy aims to double the rate of building renovation in the EU from 1% to at least 2% annually by the end of this decade. An integrated approach to building renovation means boosting energy performance of buildings by applying the \u2018energy efficiency first\u2019 principle, deploying renewables, preparing for climate impacts, deploying urban green and blue infrastructure, and incorporating circular economy, waste treatment and pollution prevention principles. The expected benefits are broad and include lowering energy bills, alleviating energy poverty, increasing resilience to climate change, improving energy security, contributing to human health, safety, and improved indoor air quality, and providing habitats for biodiversity, as well as boosting the construction sector and, in doing so, supporting small and medium size entrepreneurs and local jobs.
\nConsidering the labour intensiveness of building renovation and repairing the short-term economic damage induced by the COVID19 crisis with investing in our long-term future, the Renovation Wave initiative is seen as a major tool for relaunching EU\u2019s post-COVID19 economy. All the money raised through Next Generation EU will be channelled through EU programmes in the revamped long-term EU budget. Here the European Green Deal is planned as the EU’s recovery strategy, where the massive renovation wave of buildings will boost economies, bringing local jobs, improving welfare, and resulting in better living conditions for EU citizens. Also, the synergies of the renovation wave with the renewable energy projects will kick-starting a clean economy in Europe.
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