4. Conclusions, future plans – OVERVIEW

Austria has taken many steps to fulfil the requirements set out by the EPBD. The national implementation of the EPBD and attaining the Austrian energy efficiency and climate protection goals determine important efficiency criteria for buildings, either newly built or renovated.

The relevant articles of Directive 2010/31/EU as amended by Directive 2018/844 have been implemented in the building regulations in all Austrian provinces. The definition of NZEB for 2020 for residential and non‐residential buildings has been defined in a national plan³ which contains the minimum requirements for new buildings and major renovations. A further recast of the OIB Guideline 6 (2023) is presently under preparation.

The Austrian regions and their regional energy agencies offer comprehensive information campaigns, competitions and energy advice services for building owners and users as well as international conferences. They develop and implement training programmes for different target groups in the building sector.

Also, the Austrian klimaaktiv²⁴ initiative, which is the Austrian climate protection programme, promotes voluntary quality standards for buildings (for new constructions and renovations as well as infrastructure, ecological building construction materials and indoor air quality). Furthermore, the Austrian klimaaktiv initiative provides training for professionals and disseminates information to homeowners and companies. Since 2004, the initiative is one of the most influential systems for implementing energy efficiency. Every year, projects are awarded equally for their architectural value as well as their quality with respect to ecology, energy use, and social and economic sustainability in this programme. The klimaaktiv platform will continue setting best practice examples for the promotion of sustainability in buildings.

At present, the Austrian government is working on the goals for 2030 and beyond (2050). Different scenarios for this period show a high range of potentials for the reduction of GHG emissions in the building sector. These potentials focus mainly on energy-efficient renovations and energy-efficient household appliances. The reduction of energy (mainly space heating demand) for the residential and non-residential sector is still the main factor for reaching the goals of 2030 and beyond.

In order to achieve the ambitious climate goals, increasing the rate of renovations as well as achieving a high energy performance in the construction and renovation of buildings is necessary. The renovation necessity increases due to building age and constant associated repair and maintenance measures. Therefore, it is necessary to implement ambitious renovation standards at the earliest possible stage. In addition to the reduction of space heating demand, increasing the use of energy-efficient heating systems and RES are very important measures to reduce GHG emissions in the building sector. By all accounts, the increased launching of subsidies for environmentally friendly buildings supports the achievement of these goals.

Implementing the ambitious goals of the Paris Agreement (COP21) is being achieved in many ways in Austria. These are summarised in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) for Austria for the period 2021-2030 (submitted in December 2019) and the Long Term Renovation Strategy (LTRS) (submitted in March 2020).

Through the daily experience gained from implementing the different parts of the EPBD legislation operationally, the stakeholders acknowledge more and more the importance of setting ambitious requirements and of building bridges between the different acts provided by the EPBD legislation, its calculation methods, and the data it generates.

The EPBD (Directive 2010/31/EU) has been a strong driver in taking energy performance to a higher level, and rising ambitions have been a driver for progress in the Flanders region.

Requirements for new buildings were strengthened multiple times so that a clear path towards 2021 has been laid out; the average energy performance of new buildings now improves by the year and builders go beyond the legal requirements. A good functioning enforcement strategy is one of the keys to this success. The close follow-up of the cost-optimal level has led to clear goals defined up to 2021. Future requirements or goals will rely on regular cost-optimal studies. The roll-out of the NZEB action plan allowed for successful introduction of the NZEB level. Many frontrunner companies support the NZEB concept and its implementation.

For new buildings, the legal requirements seem systematically met, based on the achieved as-built performance. The renovation of existing buildings offers a bigger challenge, however, in both the number of buildings and the numerous thresholds that need to be met.

In order to increase the level of ambition from fragmented improvements towards deep renovation of all existing houses, the government decided to set up the multi-stakeholder partnership Renovation Pact by the end of 2014. A long-term renovation goal was defined based on a consensus between concerned stakeholders. In 2017, all energy grants conditions were aligned with the 2050 goals and new subsidy schemes favouring multiple improvements and deep renovation became available.

At the end of 2018, the housing passport 'Woningpas' was introduced, followed a month later by the revised EPC.

In February 2020, almost 50% of the existing residential buildings had a valid EPC. The Flemish Energy Agency puts a continuous effort in improving the quality of EPCs. Tools and accreditation schemes on inspections were improved over the past years to achieve a larger impact.

In accordance with the EPBD, a more detailed LTRS was defined and added as an annex to the NECP 2021-2030. Together with the Government Declaration 2019-2024, these documents include a wide variety of strategic goals for the different segments of the building stock, as well as an overview of existing and newly approved policy measures. In the months and years to come, respective policies will be prepared and implemented in consultation with a variety of key stakeholders. Special attention will in addition be put to non-residential buildings, including improved data collection and stakeholder consultation.  

Since the Walloon Government took note of an ambitious Walloon renovation strategy on 20 April 2017 and integrated it into the 4^th NEEAP (currently being updated and expected by 10 March 2020), the Walloon Region will work on following the priorities identified in the strategy:

• adapting all incentive schemes, in order to focus more on energy performance improvements and on GHG emissions reduction (NB: already done for the 'Primes Habitation' regime);
• certifying professionals involved in energy efficiency improvement works;
• pursuing the ongoing development of the passport tool, in order to allow an integrated and long-term renovation projects approach, linking with incentives schemes, EPCs, AC & heating inspections and technical building systems requirements;
• ensuring that the various actions and policies currently being carried out by the administration are consistent with the objectives set by the strategy and serve the achievement of these objectives;
• defining indicators to verify the correct trajectory pursued by the administration to achieve the objectives of the strategy;
• strengthening the new LTRS to reach a decarbonised building stock by 2050.

The legal framework on the energy efficiency of buildings in Bulgaria has been expanded in conformity with the EPBD and other EU Directives. It stimulates the wider application of new financial and market mechanisms targeting energy end-users with the aim of facilitating the application of energy efficiency measures in the building stock.

Current plans and programmes in place have contributed towards the achievement of the national energy efficiency targets by 2020. These include:

• implementing the ambitious National Plan for Nearly Zero-Energy Buildings, 2015-2020;

• completing the “National Programme for Energy Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings”;

• achieving a high level of absorption of the EU financial resources under the projects for building renovations within the framework of the Operational Programme “Regions in Growth” 2014-2020.

These plans and programmes will also contribute towards making further energy efficiency improvements after 2020. This process will be boosted by the upcoming adoption of the Long-Term National Strategy to Support the Renovation of the National Building Stock of Residential and Non-Residential Buildings by 2050.

The combination of requirements set for new buildings, renovated buildings and NZEB, and subsidies that were assigned to the improvement of the energy efficiency of existing buildings will bring significant energy savings over the coming years. The recommendations in the EPCs serve as good guidelines to help owners to decide on implementing some of the possible energy improvements. The number of qualified experts necessary for issuing EPCs and for regular inspections of technical systems is sufficient to cover all the market needs.

The national calculation tool has been developed. Due to complex calculation procedures, it will only cover the most commonly encountered combinations of RES and combined heat and power systems, so there is a need for a more comprehensive calculation tool to complement this tool.

The future plans are:

• To strengthen the existing quality assessment scheme and increase the number of EPCs to be controlled, which currently stands at 0.22% of issued EPCs.
• To continue ongoing information campaigns and develop a new campaign to raise awareness on the benefits of building energy renovations and the purpose of energy certification and regular inspection of heating and cooling/AC systems.
• To continue improving the electronic platform that supports the issuing of the EPCs and collecting reports on the regular control of heating and cooling/ AC system.
• To improve and simplify the calculation methodology and software tool for the calculation of the energy performance of buildings.
• To perform a new cost-optimal analysis.
• To create new programmes for energy renovation of buildings for the period of 2021-2027 and improve schemes for building energy renovation with measures for healthy indoor climate conditions, fire safety and reduced risks related to intense seismic activity according to Directive (EU) 2018/844.

Upgrading existing buildings still remains the biggest challenge for Cyprus in order to fulfil its goals for 2030. The recent financial scheme 'I save – I upgrade' has shown that there is great interest among households, but also for other groups, to implement energy efficiency measures, and the industry is keen on seizing this opportunity. Thus, it is recognised that more public and private financing has to be streamlined within the sector. The MECI’s efforts are focused on developing new financial products and the ESCO market as well as proposals to secure financing from the European Structural Funds of 2021- 2027 and the Resilience and Recovery Fund.

A comprehensive description of all existing and planned policies in building renovation is provided in the National Climate and Energy Plan which, among other things, provides measurable progress indicators to be set according to the energy efficiency targets established by Directive 2012/27/EU, aiming for the long-term 2050 goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The Long-term Renovation Strategy, set to be issued in April 2020, will elaborate further on the issue.  

Furthermore, planned regulatory measures in 2020 are expected to boost energy efficiency in new and existing buildings. The new minimum energy performance requirements will increase the penetration of NZEB in the building stock and will increase energy savings ambitions in major renovations. Furthermore, the transposition of Directive 2018/844/EU is expected to increase smartness in buildings and the electromobility infrastructure within the building environment, as well as to optimise savings from technical building systems.

The Czech Republic devotes significant attention to the energy performance of buildings, and the country is continuously transitioning construction standards towards NZEB levels. Many seminars, webinars and lectures are currently taking place in order to assist architects, builders and designers with this transition. In parallel, significant effort is put on educating experts in the field of energy and construction. The year 2020 is the date of implementation of the revised EPBD and it is important to monitor what impact the relevant adaptations have on the building sector.

Future plans are deeply connected with the Long-term Renovation Strategy and its implementation. The Strategy identified barriers against renovations for different parts of the building stock, which must be dealt with. In the residential building sector, the Czech Republic will focus more on raising awareness in the field of energy efficiency and acceptance of effective energy management in houses (use of energy efficient appliances, forced ventilation installation, etc.) by the general public. Funding for energy efficient building transitions will be maintained as was until now, but with improved access to it.

The situation is similar for apartment buildings. There, the aim is to improve the quality of renovations and to manage its complexity, especially in the case of multi-ownership. In the case of individual owners, finding the concrete factors which trigger renovation (e.g., the technical condition of the building) and introducing appropriate instruments that increase interest in and motivate action for renovation is key, especially at the municipal level. As in the case of single-family homes, a campaign to bring energy efficiency closer to the general public will be crucial for the period 2020-2030.

For the public sector, the aim is to increase the number and depth of renovations. Quality of renovation works is not considered a key issue in this sector because renovation projects are normally implemented in coordination with experts. Support for renovations in the public sector will require targeted instruments. It is therefore necessary to maintain the current financial scheme, i.e., a subsidy scheme; however, it is necessary to modify the specifications to better meet municipalities’ needs and requirements. As it appears that the motivation factor for renovations in the public sector is cost savings, it is necessary to help municipalities in the implementation of energy management to be able to identify the potential for reducing energy consumption and operating costs.

Understanding current energy management is crucial for the development of new tools to support the renovation of buildings in the private sector. Despite the fulfilment of legal obligations (obligations to carry out energy audits or the energy management in place), entrepreneurs have limited understanding about energy costs. At the same time, saving operating costs is a motivation for them to carry out renovation works. In the coming period, it will be necessary to provide entrepreneurs with tools to improve energy management in the business sector. The availability of such (financial or quality control) tools should ensure greater motivation to implement building renovation projects. For commercial companies, increasing the number of building renovations will depend on whether, thanks to financial support, the project payback period can be reduced to an acceptable timeframe (e.g., 5 years). It is this requirement that may be a barrier to the implementation of measures for buildings (long-term return on projects aimed at improving the quality of the building envelope) that do not require renovations or whose technical condition does not require an investment.

Transposition of the EPBD

The transposition of Directive (EU) 844/2018 was completed on 10 March 2020. The requirements for e-mobility have been transposed by 'Bekendtgørelse om forberedelse til og etablering af ladestandere i forbindelse med bygninger (ladestanderbekendtgørelsen)'¹¹. The requirements for BACS and adjustments to the requirements for testing of the technical building systems have been transposed in the building regulations.

The Long-Term Renovation Strategy (LTRS) was also made public on 10 March 2020. The LTRS advocates additional measures for cost-effective energy renovation efforts such as targeting public buildings and buildings with the worst energy efficiency performance, to decrease the amount of energy used in buildings. In 2019, further analyses have been initiated and the conclusions from these analyses will contribute to constructing a foundation for further improvements in the coming years.  

The Danish Energy Agency and the Danish Transport, Construction and Housing Agency has made large efforts to raise public awareness concerning energy use. Information campaigns, web-based interactive tools regarding energy saving measures, etc. have been widely distributed, and public awareness has risen considerably. Denmark has succeeded in making the EPC visible, rendering it a clear sales parameter in the market. In addition, the demand for data from the energy-labelling database is increasing. Denmark is currently implementing a number of concrete measures based on stakeholder involvement to ensure that EPCs are uniform and of high quality.

The Climate Act

In December 2019, eight out of the ten political parties in the Danish Parliament agreed on a legally binding national Climate Act, with a legally binding target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 70% by 2030 (compared to the 1990 level). The emissions are calculated in accordance with the UN accounting rules.

The Climate Act includes a number of deliverables to achieve a wide impact on Denmark's climate policy: every year, the Danish Government must present Climate Action Plans with concrete political initiatives to decarbonise every sector from transport to energy efficiency, housing and energy. The Climate Act also contains a mechanism for setting milestone targets. Every five (5) years, the government must set a legally binding target with a ten-year (10-year) perspective. The milestone targets will be implemented into Danish law.

The Danish Council on Climate Change will present their professional assessment of whether the initiatives in the Climate Action Plan are sufficient to reduce emissions. The Danish Council on Climate Change also provides recommendations on climate initiatives. The council's budget will be more than doubled, compared to before the Climate Act, and more experts will be added to the council. Furthermore, the council's political independence has been strengthened, as it can now elect its own chairperson and members.

The Climate Act also commits the Government to separately report on Denmark's impact on international emissions. Reductions from electricity produced from RES and the effects of Denmark's bilateral energy cooperation with fifteen (15) countries can be taken into account. Furthermore, the Climate Act will shed light on the impacts of consumption on the climate. Finally, the Climate Act commits the Government to form a yearly global climate strategy to ensure that Denmark keeps on its ambitious work at the global scene.

The EPBD, Directive 2010/31/EU, has been fully transposed into national legislation in Estonia. Updated requirements and new regulations came into force in January 2013. Estonia will continue conducting information campaigns and seminars to improve the level of knowledge of building owners, designers and architects as well as specialists working in the municipalities. The Directive 2018/844 was considered when the latest revision of the regulation 'Minimum Energy Performance Requirements'⁸ regulation was completed. The directive forced some changes in the legislation, e.g., specifying certain definitions, implementing requirements for electric vehicle recharging and inspecting heating and cooling systems. Furthermore, due to the directive, new cost-optimality calculations for energy efficiency classes were performed. This helped to re-define the cost optimal levels of the energy efficiency requirements for new builds and major renovations.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications adopted updated, stricter energy performance requirements in 2018, which were enforced from the beginning of 2019.

At the beginning of 2021, Estonia is in the development phase to make energy performance certificates (EPCs) for existing buildings available as an automated service. This means that the online national building register will be enhanced so that, based on actual energy consumption values (to be reported in the building register), the user/owner/certificate issuer can see the latest (last year) energy performance rating. Authorised certificate issuers can issue the certificate upon the client’s request based on these values. The service is expected to go live in second part of 2021.

In the future, the same service (calculating EPCs based on data available in the online building register platform) is envisioned for new buildings as well.

Energy use in buildings covers approximately 40% of the Finnish energy end use. This means that all possible measures must be taken to achieve the energy efficiency objectives.

Finland will finalise its Long Term Renovation Strategy in the beginning of 2020, and the work on the implementation of EPBD Articles 14 and 15 is underway, as well as the implementation of other major points in the Directive. The implementation is set to start in 2020 in close cooperation with stakeholders.

Well-tried practices, such as energy efficiency agreement schemes and existing web portals, have proved to be an excellent basis for providing information on training programmes and advisory services as well as monitoring and reporting, and will continue to be so in the future.

As the need for enhanced sustainability and energy efficiency grows within the EU, and as Finland is working to meet its goals for carbon neutrality in 2035, Finland will tap into its strengths to meet future demands: cooperation between government and the building sector, voluntary measures in implementing energy efficiency goals, and know-how in energy efficiency construction and renovation.

Even though the last update of the EPBD is about to be fully transposed, France has the will to continue to position itself at the forefront of energy performance of buildings, and plans to make sustainable development the driving force of national growth.

In fact, France carried out ambitious works and adopted strong regulation to go beyond the requirements for energy performance at a European level. For instance, as already written in this report, the government has just published the tertiary regulation that will give a long-term vision to these buildings by specifying clear energy performance goals for 2030, 2040, 2050. This regulation will lead tertiary activities in the energy transition through incentives, e.g., rating or comparison to similar buildings.

France also seeks to reinforce existing tools, e.g., the French EPC to make it more accurate, allowing to use it for future public policies such as those targeting renovation of ‘thermal sieves’. The new EPC will also be made more comprehensible for the general public. This will help developing citizens’ interest in their buildings energy and climate performance. Several strands of work are currently being led to improve the EPC. This reform is expected to start by 2021. Its main goals are to:

• Make the EPC a reliable tool for Energy performance evaluation in order to guide public renovation policies;

• Ensure its reproducibility by making it legally opposable from 2021;

• Strengthen its role as a communication tool and make the future owner or tenant aware of possible energy savings and potential for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, as well as of the challenges and benefits of energy renovation.

• Strengthen its role in the massification of energy renovation of housing by eradicating ‘excessively energy-intensive’ dwellings in the short term (by 2028).

On top of that, France decided to go beyond this single energy performance goal by seeking low carbon emitting buildings on its territory with the help of its upcoming regulation RE2020. To put all the odds on its side and make sure that it will be applicable and applied, the conception of this new, ambitious project has started four years ago, alongside all the construction field actors. As it is about to be released, RE2020 is expected to have a huge impact in seeking energy and carbon efficient new buildings in France.

Currently, the requirements on energy performance of buildings and the requirements on the minimum percentage of RES used for heating and cooling of buildings are the subject of different legal acts:

• the Energy Saving Ordinance (in pursuit of the Energy Saving Act) regulates the energy performance of new and existing buildings;
• the Renewable Energies Heat Act ('Erneuerbare-Energien-Wärmegesetz') sets an obligation to use a minimum percentage of RES to cover the demand of heating, domestic hot water and cooling of new buildings, as well as existing public buildings subject to certain major renovations.

The Federal Government has combined these two legal sectors in order to simplify their application. This is foreseen in a new legal act, the 'Gebäudeenergiegesetz' (GEG). The GEG has now been adopted by both the German Bundestag and the Bundesrat. It should come into force by October 2020.

The German calculation method DIN V 18599 was amended in October 2016 and a simplified method for residential buildings will be issued in July 2020. Since the current Energy Saving Ordinance refers to the 2011 version of the energy performance calculation method, the applicability of these new standards depends on the above-mentioned legal process. An application of the revised standard is also necessary to better cover advanced technologies.

From 2021 onwards, there will be a new funding structure in the building sector. The 'Bundesförderung für effiziente Gebäude' (BEG) will reduce complexity of subsidy programmes for buildings. The new guideline will bring together several programmes, including already established programmes like the 'Bundesförderung für Heizen mit erneuerbaren Energien' better known as the 'Marktanreizprogramm' (MAP) and the 'CO2-Gebäudesanierungsprogramm'.

To address the different financing needs of citizens, the BEG will offer low-interest loans with both a repayment and a simple subsidy. The new layout will increase transparency and accessibility to funding.

The use of EPCs has been fully implemented in the building market and its existence in building transactions is obligatory. The uptake of EPC recommendations is still a challenge, which is currently being addressed on a state level through financial incentives, information campaigns and with national and European programmes.

A national registry system for issuing EPCs and heating and AC systems inspection reports is fully operational, and the system is centrally operated by the YPEN. The full implementation of the energy inspections of heating and AC systems started in January 2016. However, until the end of 2019, a very limited number of inspection reports has been issued; thus, the implementation and control of energy efficiency measures for these systems still cannot be fully implemented.

The transposition law related to Directive 2010/31/EU (Law 4122/2013) has been modified with issues regarding the energy auditors’ qualifications, fines and the operation of the control authorities, while the EED was officially adopted in November 2015 by Law 4342/2015. The transposition of Directive 2018/844/EU in the Greek legislation is expected in the first trimester of 2020.

The national building code KENAK was amended in July 2017 according to the results of the cost-optimal study performed earlier, and has more strict energy requirements regarding new buildings. Additionally, the relevant Technical Guidelines were updated accordingly in November 2017.

The national plan for increasing the number of nearly zero-energy buildings was issued in August 2018 and defined, among others, that a new building may be characterised as a nearly zero-energy building if it falls at least under energy class A, while an existing building when it falls at least under energy class B+; a decision on the minimum share of RES and the way it contributes to primary energy consumption is still pending.

For buildings of the public and wider public sector, Law 4609/2019 foresees the role of a building energy manager and states that the appointment process as well as the formal qualifications of the building energy manager are determined by the Minister of Environment and Energy.

Finally, the national plan for Energy and Climate (NECP)⁶ was issued in December 2019 and sets, among others, a key priority to improve the energy efficiency of the building stock through the energy upgrade of 12-15% of the existing buildings and/or building units, between 2021-2030. The aim is to achieve the energy upgrade of some 600,000 buildings by 2030, resulting in an 8 billion € increase in domestic value added. The national energy targets are quite ambitious and include an overall target for energy conservation of 38%, and a 42% reduction of CO₂ emissions until 2030.

In order to support the targets of the national plan for Energy and Climate, a series of legislative works are ongoing to update the regulation of energy efficiency in buildings with the NZEB criteria and launch a set of national energy renovation programmes to subsidise energy measures in buildings.

The implementation of the 2018 EPBD requirements for new buildings and major renovations will bring important energy savings soon and in the long term, although new and renovated buildings only represent a smaller share (around 4.4 million dwellings and single-family houses in total) of the entire building stock in Hungary. There was a positive trend in new housing construction in the period 2016-2020. 

Figure 8. Construction of new dwellings in Hungary (units/year) Source: KSH³⁰ 

A boom was experienced in 2016 due to the governmental support programme CSOK³¹, which can be used for construction, purchase and expansion of new residential buildings for families with children. In these projects, the cost-optimal requirements have to be applied. CSOK gives support to families with one, two and three children for building or buying new houses or flats. Families with at least three children can get about 32,000 € non-refundable financial support and can have a loan of the same value. For one and two children, the loan is not entitled, and the support is significantly lower, too.

The boom in the building sector temporarily stopped with the first waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2019, the performance of the building sector was 53% higher than in 2015. In 2020, 28,208 new flats have been commissioned.

The National Building Energy Strategy¹⁸ envisages a significant reallocation of funds and support for the building sector for the period 2015-2020. Despite the difficulties, the introduction of energy performance requirements on partial renovations since 2013, and the introduction of cost-optimal requirements in 2015 for buildings that obtain public funding, can have a remarkable effect.

The NZEB concept is determining the construction market which in Hungary has been improved rapidly in the last years. The number of new flats in 2020 (~28,000) is still not sufficient to cover the needs. Regulatory changes and affordable technologies are expected to lead to a significant increase in the use of renewable energy sources in the coming years. The thermal insulation, airtightness and shading characteristics of new buildings are close to reasonably achievable limits.

Perspectives in the fields of smart metering, electric cars, national grid, co-generation are more promising. However, these items are beyond the competence of the designers of individual buildings.

Renovation targets:

The renovation target for residential buildings is to reach a 5% renovation rate by the end of the period 2021-2030.
This can reduce the total energy consumption and CO₂ emissions of residential buildings by approximately 30%.
Significant results have been achieved the last 4 years in the public buildings sector, and with the plans in mind, this trend is expected to continue.
The goal is to maintain a deep renovation rate of 3% for governmental buildings in the period 2021-2030.
If this is achieved gradually, the total energy consumption and the CO₂ emissions of public buildings can be reduced by 12-13%.

Fire protection characteristics (e.g., façade fire propagation, reaction to fire) of the wide-spread combustible thermal insulation material used on facades and roofs requires more attention in future renovations. To help designers in Hungary to create fire-safe buildings, a set of technical guidelines for fire protection is available³².

The EPBD implementation in Ireland has provided detailed information and requirements to document the current energy efficiency of buildings. The minimum energy performance of residential buildings has undergone revisions in 2005, 2008, 2011 and 2019. RES is mandatory in new homes. The Building Standards are aligned with NZEB requirements. The Building Standards for non-residential buildings were improved by 40-60% in 2017, with a mandatory 20% of the energy demand being supplied through RES. The major renovation requirement was added for all buildings.

The existing housing stock in Ireland continues to pose one of the greatest energy efficiency challenges. A considerable portion of the current building stock performs poorly when compared against a building built to the current standards.

The next LTRS will further reflect the commitments in the National Development Plan (NDP) and the actions set out in the Irish Government’s Climate Action Plan.

For 2030 these include:

• 500,000 homes retrofitted to a BER of B2 or cost optimal by 2030
• Public sector buildings to have a BER of B (or carbon equivalent) by 2030
• One third of all commercial buildings to have a BER of B (or carbon equivalent gains) by 2030

The NECP attributed more than 50% of the non-ETS energy savings goal to the civil sector, which was needed to achieve the national energy efficiency target of 2030 (9.3 Mtoe/year). In order to achieve the NECP target and the carbon neutrality of the civil sector, it is necessary to promote the rapid energy conversion of the building stock in terms of deep renovation, integrating the concept of energy efficiency with safe buildings (seismic adaptation). To decrease CO₂ emissions from the building stock, the Italian government strengthened national incentives (2.ii.v) and provided Italy with new instruments, also thanks to the Decree 10.06.2020 n. 48 provisions:

• a building digital platform, to deliver detailed knowledge of the building stock. The platform integrates different databases that collect the fragmented information on buildings (see paragraph 3);
• development of new requirements and new regulations to promote the installation of charging points for electric vehicles, integrated within buildings;
• a revision of inspections regulations to promote the automatic controls of advanced technical building systems.

The new national Information System for EPC (SIAPE) has been established at the national level, while the creation of a national Information System for technical building systems is still in progress.

According to the new EPBD provisions, the calculation methodology and the energy performance requirements of buildings are planned to be updated with the integration of the infrastructure for electric mobility in new and renovated buildings as well as with provisions relating to the replacement of technical building installations and the introduction of buildings’ 'Smart Readiness Indicator'.

Two new decrees are planned to modify the regulation of control and inspections of heating systems and of AC systems (including skills requirements of technical experts), respectively.

 The new LTRS of the national building stock is being defined with the aim of obtaining a decarbonised and energy-efficient building stock by 2050 and to reach a building renovation rate of almost 3%.

Latvia will develop further policies and take additional measures to improve the existing legal framework for the energy performance of buildings.

Latvian short-term plans are:

• to plan a revision of the qualified expert monitoring scheme (during 2020);
• to improve legislative acts regarding building automation and control systems (in 2020);
• to revise the current energy performance calculation method and energy certification of buildings (in 2020-2021);
• to revise the LEPB (in 2020);

Latvian mid- and long-term plans are:

• to take measures to increase the number of NZEB, as well as to consider possible changes to definitions and requirements;
• to implement EU’s Clean energy for all Europeans package (amendments to the EPBD);
• to define targets for the decarbonisation of the national building stock and integrate them in the next long-term renovation strategy.

Luxembourg has fully transposed the EPBD and is promoting increasingly more energy-efficient buildings through regulations. The aim is to further develop the energy efficiency renovation policy by granting relevant aids and low-interest loans.

In September 2015, the Government of Luxembourg, the Chamber of Commerce and IMS Luxembourg jointly launched the strategic study titled, The Third Industrial Revolution Strategy¹⁷, in close collaboration with American economist Jeremy Rifkin and his team of experts. This process, using an open-societal innovation approach, was aimed at making the existing economic model more sustainable and interconnected for future generations. It resulted in a comprehensive strategic study and a summary-synthesis with recommendations on how to deal with all these new challenges.

The EU population growth will increase by 0.1% annually over the years 2013 to 2050, while Luxembourg’s population could grow by 1.8% per year over that same period. The potential increase in population could provide an opportunity to build and scale up a new generation of buildings and accompanying infrastructures.

Concerning the building level, the results identified by the strategic study are detailed as follows: buildings connected to a so-called 'Energy Internet' will play an increasingly important role in data handling, green power production and energy storage and will act as transport and logistic hubs that will rise to the next stage – a smart-energy Luxembourg. The building-out and scaling-up of a new generation of neighbourhoods and buildings can develop aggregate efficiency, increase productivity and reduce marginal costs as well as the ecological footprint.

Within a district/eco-neighbourhood, buildings will become nodes connected to every other surrounding building to allow families, businesses and communities to analyse big data flows along the value chains and to perfect algorithms and applications foreseen to improve the energy efficiency of the interconnected neighbourhood.

With regard to energy, RES-harvesting technologies like solar, wind, geothermal and biomass will need to be further developed and installed in and around residential, commercial and industrial sites to generate green electricity and heat/cold for immediate use within the concerned area, or to inject the energy surplus into the electricity, heating and cooling networks. Energy storage technologies, notably including batteries, hydrogen fuel cells and thermal storage tanks, will need to be further developed and installed alongside the RES-harvesting technologies to store intermittent green energy for use or sale back to the energy grids to ensure a reliable energy supply.

Over the last years, Luxembourg has installed a relevant number of public electric charging stations, which set the foundations for further commercial development of the charging infrastructure. Considering the charging stations per capita, Luxembourg is among the leading countries in Europe. By installing basic charging infrastructure under public authority, Luxembourg was able to set a national standard that avoids the development of different incompatible systems. The standardised system, the Chargy network, is the reference for future public and commercial charging infrastructure¹⁸. The Chargy network already includes a significant number of charging points invested by third parties and accessible to the public, known as Chargy OK. A subsidy programme for private charging stations is already in place¹⁹, while a new subsidy programme for enterprises which is compliant with state aid rules is currently under development.

The EPBD revision in 2018 further introduced new requirements for electromobility infrastructure. Luxembourg recognises the importance of electromobility and will implement corresponding requirements that go beyond the EPBD 2018. The corresponding acts are in the legislative procedure and will be implemented by mid-2021. Working in this dynamic and future-oriented environment will improve the capacities and adaptability of the stakeholders to address the upcoming challenges.

Luxembourg is looking forward to an ambitious revision of the EPBD in 2021 with a special focus on the following topics:

• definition of an NZEB standard for existing buildings, which aims for deep renovation without being equivalent to the very ambitious NZEB standard for new buildings;
• introduction of binding/non-binding renovation obligations that depend on the type of building (residential, non-residential, age of building, ownership structure) in order to boost the renovation rate;
• requirements for the integration of renewable energy in buildings (PV-ready or similar);
• electrification of buildings combined with a timeline for the phasing-out of fossil heating and cooling systems.

In Malta, the EPBD is part of a wider movement towards energy efficiency in general, plug-in-loads, behavioural patterns in energy use and building energy efficiency. The actual impact of the EPBD on energy efficiency in the Maltese context has yet to be quantified, and when this is done it will be very difficult to qualify which increased efficiencies are due to the EPBD, which are attributable to other EU directives and which are attributable to other measures taken by private individuals or the Maltese authorities. For new buildings, introducing minimum EPBD requirements has effectuated improvements estimated at somewhere between 15-25%. This might be viewed as a big step forward, but when taken into consideration that this relates only to new builds, which annually represent around 1% of the existing stock, the improvement may in fact be relatively small. Renovation will therefore be needed for a larger proportion of the building stock for energy efficiency benefits to be obtained.

Studies including those carried out within the cost-optimal framework have concentrated on the best practices for renovation. Plans for a financial and fiscal policy are being developed to guide efforts for the renovation of the existing building stock.

The Climate Law and Climate Agreement show the large ambition the Netherlands has with respect to moving to a decarbonised economy and built environment until 2050. A wide range of measures has been defined and agreed upon by over 100 public and private parties. All partners are willing to contribute. The implementation of the EPBD perfectly fits into these measures.

 For the built environment, the focus will be on preparing all buildings to be ready to disconnect from the natural gas grid and creating regional energy strategies optimised for local conditions in such a way that, by 2050, the emission of greenhouse gasses in the Netherlands is reduced by 95% compared to 1990.

Although Norway has only implemented Directive 2002/91/EC, Directive 2010/31/EU is also being actively pursued. The Norwegian government has reached an agreement to continue its implementation with the necessary adaptations. The most recent Directive 2018/844 will also be considered for implementation.

The requirements for new buildings have been revised recently and they are up for a new revision in 2021. The new requirements will be in line with a national definition of NZEB.

The energy certification and inspection schemes are currently under evaluation, with potential revisions to ensure the best effect in the market. Conditions for coordinating schemes more efficiently are in place; the responsibility for the energy certification and inspection schemes has been transferred from NVE to Enova, and a considerable number of programmes for dissemination of information, technology dissemination and efficiency support measures are now organised by the same organisation.

Whereas the EPC has to a large extent up to today been an isolated issue, there will now be options for the EPC to be part of the evaluation of applications and recommendations for good building owner practice.

NVE remains responsible for control and use of sanctions. This activity is scaled up to become an intrinsic part of the schemes to further underscore the obligations of building owners.

Since adoption of the amendments of EPBD in 2018, Poland has introduced rules and regulations aiming to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. Inter-ministerial activities are mainly focused on increasing energy efficiency. In the construction sector this can be achieved both by reducing energy consumption of new buildings (in particular by increasing the number of nearly-zero energy buildings) and successful renovation of existing buildings with increased energy efficiency, as well as by installing renewable energy sources. Therefore, work is currently ongoing to develop a new long-term strategy for the renovation of national stocks of residential and non-residential buildings, public and private, in accordance with the EPBD as amended by Directive 2018/844/EU.

Poland’s National Energy and Climate Plan for the years 2021-2030 presents the objectives, targets, policies and measures in five dimensions of the Energy Union: decarbonisation; energy efficiency; energy security; internal energy market; research, innovation and competitiveness. The greatest impact of this plan is expected from the construction sector. Currently, there are works undertaken on updating the methodology for the assessment of energy performance of buildings and their parts.

In 2017, the Portuguese National Building Energy Certification System (SCE) celebrated ten years of existence. The system is now well established and further steps are being considered for the upcoming years.

One of the most relevant aspects of the change in the SCE was the shift made regarding the way EPCs are registered in the national database. Instead of having EPCs registered without any external reference, they are now cross-referenced with other databases. These interconnections between databases allow for a more precise and clearer identification of each building. As an example, the EPC database is currently linked with the National Institute of Statistics (INE) as well as the electricity provider, Energias de Portugal (EDP). Additionally, tax administration and notary information is also collected, albeit manually, and plans are being drawn in order to collect this information in real time. Besides the previous information, the EPC database also stores the INSPIRE ID²³, ensuring that Portuguese EPCs will be compatible with other systems across the EU. This will allow the EPC database to serve as a central hub to connect with external entities, and as an additional advantage, improve the quality of stored information. Future connections with local and central government agencies might be implemented in the future²⁴.

The geographical location data is now present in the EPC database, enabling buildings to be precisely located on a map, and this is a very important step towards having a better understanding of the building stock. This knowledge is essential when policies that promote building renovations are to be implemented, giving the EPC a key role in effectively putting the strategy into practice. Figure 8 is a prime example of how easy it has become to view energy performance information for the entire certified building stock.

As a final remark, it is important to highlight the relevance of the consumer and the role they play in the building and energy sector. Based on all the information stored in the SCE database, ADENE will fully launch the Portal casA+ after a piloting phase in 2021. This portal is a hub for consumers to have all relevant information stored in a platform accessible only by them; it relates to their own homes and deals with energy performance. Additionally, the portal gathers various stakeholders across the construction sector together and serves as a one-stop-shop for requesting proposals to implement improvement measures. It effectively contributes to closing the gap between the supply chain and the consumer.

Besides Portal casA+, ADENE is also focused on contributing to the enhancement of energy literacy throughout civil society, via an information centre called CINERGIA - Energy Information Centre, available since the beginning of 2019. This is an initiative generated by ADENE, in the context of the Portuguese Energy measure under the SIMPLEX +2017 programme, a programme that aims to give all citizens and energy producers an overview of the energy sector. Aimed at the general public (families, students, teachers, urban youth, etc.) and institutions (public and private institutions in the energy as well as other sectors, universities and research centres), CINERGIA provides a didactic narrative covering the forms, sources and production of energy, its transport, distribution, storage and marketing, and its use by various industrial sectors and by end consumers. Issues such as the history of energy in the country, its use in homes and in mobility are at the centre, as is the country’s energy dependency, the state of RES and the connection between energy and water efficiency. Consumers will have the opportunity to learn more about energy efficiency in their region by browsing²⁵ all information available on buildings with energy certificates.

Figure 8: Energy performance information for the entire certified building stock.

The EPBD was implemented under Act 555/2005 and amended by Ministerial Decree 364/2012 which came into force in January 2013. Since January 2008, EPCs have been issued for new buildings and buildings undergoing major renovations when either sold or rented. The EPC template has also changed and a new one was presented in the 2013 decree. The last change of the EPC template was adopted with Decree 35/2020 amending Decree 364/2012. A methodology for the energy certification of individual apartments or building units came into force in 2017 when a dedicated EPC template was also provided. It is to be noted that the compliance control system has been functional since 2017.

The extensive renovation of the building stock, which focuses on deep renovations and implementing renewable energy sources to achieve the NZEB level, will have great importance. This will require the additional training of experts, especially as regards quality assessment. In addition, it will be necessary to extend information campaigns targeting owners to provide the financial tools for supporting deep renovations and to provide a step-by-step renovation process as well.

The building construction and renovation process will also influence companies in the market which, with the help of trained and skilled workers, must carry out all construction works while ensuring that the required quality and level of construction are met. The scope of the work will require workers who are knowledgeable in progressive building structures and new technologies as well as how to handle technical building systems, including automation and control systems.

The main challenge is to engage all involved groups (designers, developers, providers, owners and tenants) in the effort to change their attitude towards the construction of NZEB, which will require a new architectural perspective concerning the use of new materials and technical building systems, including heat recovery systems and smart metering, as well as the integration of RES.

The implementation of the EPBD has been a complex process for Slovenia. Most parts of the requirements, e.g., energy performance certification and EPBD-based building codes, were successfully implemented and are already well accepted by professionals and the general public; regarding other elements, there is still progress to be made.

Further plans concern optimising certain parts in the regulation, including:

• upgrading the energy performance calculation methodology in accordance with the new CEN EPBD standards;
• developing a new national calculation tool that adheres to new CEN EPBD standards;
• further support to NZEB constructions and NZEB renovations;
• enabling consideration of NZEB in interaction with the NZEB district energy supply;
• elaborating on EPCs for complex non-residential buildings as well as for the inspection of heating and AC systems;
• cross-linking of databases with EPBD related data;
• finding a balance between more effective implementation procedures and a reasonable application of penalties in cases of non-compliance;
• creating a high level of acceptance of EPBD obligations.

The transposition of the EPBD in Spain is generally considered to be completed. For many of the specific actions that this Directive specifies, efforts have been made to publish the legal provisions that regulate it, in any case adapting them to the characteristics of the buildings in Spain, as well as to climatic and construction characteristics, and to the characteristics of professional sectors in charge of carrying out the necessary work to achieve the objectives.

In this sense, many of the difficulties encountered while implementing a roadmap which allows the achievement of the objectives while assessing both economic and social impacts, have been resolved in recent years.

After several years of operation of the first legislative publications which regulate the construction of new buildings, including renovation, inspection systems and the energy performance certification of buildings, the first positive results are beginning to show. Revisions have been made every five years, solving many of the problems with localised barriers and giving rise to a new normative package published in 2013. Forthcoming challenges are expected to be addressed in 2018 and 2019.

Future plans include the continuation of actions that are reporting energy savings in the building sector, while also reviewing the minimum performance values according to the latest cost-optimal calculations. Plans will also involve solving barriers related to energy performance certificates, improving their quality and expanding their use, as well as increasing the awareness and knowledge around building energy performance, with defined objectives for 2020 based on NZEB.

Climate declaration requirements for new buildings

In addition to energy performance requirements, Sweden has as of 1 January 2022 a mandatory climate declaration requirement in place for new buildings.

The new Act (2021:787) on Climate Declarations for Buildings establishes the obligation to report the climate impact of the construction of a new building in a climate declaration. The purpose of the climate declaration is to reduce climate impacts from the construction of buildings by highlighting those impacts. The law on climate declarations for buildings limits reporting on emissions to the construction stage, i.e., until the building is completed, see Figure 5. The building elements included in the report are load-bearing structures, the building envelope and interior walls. The climate declaration is a partial Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), but it is still a major change for the construction sector to begin reporting on emissions.

Figure 5: LCA and construction stage.

The UK is divided into four jurisdictions. In some instances, the mix of approaches transposing the requirements of the EPBD differs between jurisdictions. In other cases, similar approaches were adopted by two or more jurisdictions.

Overall, the 2013 Building Regulations in England were expected to improve the performance of new residential units by 6% and non‐residential buildings by 9% over the previous (2010) standards. The Government will keep energy standards under review and plans to consult further in due course, proposing improvements to the energy efficiency standards for new non-domestic buildings and for existing domestic and non-domestic buildings. This will include assessing cost effectiveness/ cost-optimality to inform any strengthening of existing standards.

The transposition of the EPBD and its benefits continue to be reviewed by each jurisdiction as part of their programmes to achieve national energy efficiency objectives and to meet carbon emissions reduction targets.

In some instances, these reviews validated the current implementation approach. In other cases, the reviews resulted in changes, such as the 2012 updates of the residential EPC adopted in England, Wales and Scotland. At the time of writing, changes have been made to the implementation instruments, where deemed appropriate by the reviews.

The UK is divided into four jurisdictions. Historically, England and Wales shared the same Building Regulations. In 2011, Wales became responsible for its own Building Regulations, and the new Welsh Regulations came into force in 2014.

The 2014 Building Regulations in Wales were expected to improve new residential units’ performance by 8% and non‐residential buildings by 20% over the previous standards. A Primary Energy Consumption target for new non‐residential buildings and improved minimum fabric standards for new residential units were introduced with an emphasis on reducing energy demand.

A review of the energy performance requirements within the Building Regulations is ongoing, to consider the next step in the Welsh commitment to improve energy requirements where necessary to deliver NZEB standards at a cost optimal level or better for all building types, with amendments to the Building Regulations expected to come into force in late 2021/ early 2022. The review will also develop proposals to implement the 2018 amendments to the EPBD (2018/844). 

Regulations for the Energy Performance of Buildings, including EPCs, cover both England and Wales and remain unchanged.

The UK is divided into four jurisdictions. Northern Ireland is the smallest jurisdiction, with the smallest population, least number of homes, etc. Northern Ireland relies heavily on research and development from other jurisdictions (principally England) for its own Regulations, technical guidance and development of governance arrangements. To date, Northern Ireland has adopted the majority of the English provisions in its transposition of the EPBD.

Northern Ireland has also implemented measures specific to its jurisdiction, including AC inspection information campaigns, and a successful compliance and enforcement approach.

The transposition of the EPBD continues to be reviewed by each UK jurisdiction as part of their respective programmes to achieve national energy efficiency objectives and carbon emissions reduction.

The UK is divided into four jurisdictions. The mix of approaches transposing the EPBD differs between these jurisdictions, with significant differences between the English and Scottish approaches.

The recommendations of “The Sullivan Report, A Low Carbon Building Standards Strategy for Scotland”⁴⁶ have steered work to reduce energy use and CO₂ emissions from buildings in Scotland since 2007. The 2013 update of the report recommended the review of energy standards beyond 2015 to be aligned with the EPBD timetable for NZEB. This work is ongoing.

In addition to transposing the EPBD requirements, Scotland introduced in 2016 Display Energy Certificates (DECs) to report operational energy as part of the legislation for the assessment and improvement of existing non‐domestic buildings under Section 63 of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009¹³.

The Scottish Government recognises the value of the data recorded on the EPC register, which is already used to support a broad range of policies and other initiatives. The Scottish Government has published EPC register data to support research and broader carbon and energy efficiency improvements of the building stock. This will be further expanded in support of the Energy Efficient Scotland Programme²⁰ which has broadly adopted EPCs and their calculation methodologies as a core mechanism to set and demonstrate improvement in the building stock.

The energy standards of the Scottish Building Regulations are expected to be amended in 2021 to further improve the energy performance of new buildings. New regulations are also being developed that aim to avoid the use of fossil fuels in new homes from 2024, with a similar ambition for non-domestic buildings.

The transposition of the EPBD and associated benefits continue to be reviewed by each UK jurisdiction as part of their respective programmes to achieve national energy efficiency and CO₂ objectives.