Embodied carbon & zero emission targets adopted in new EPBD

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Adopted on 12 April, the new recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive will also ratchet up requirements to retrofit Europe’s existing building stock, including mandatory minimum energy performance standards and binding retrofit targets for non-domestic buildings, and requirements for each country to reduce the average primary energy of their residential buildings – along with requirements for sustainable mobility including cycling and EV charging infrastructure.

The principal architect of the new directive, Green Party MEP for Dublin Ciarán Cuffe said: “This is an important step on the path to decarbonising buildings in the EU. In the coming years it will reduce energy bills, reduce our greenhouse gas emissions and allow people to live in cleaner, greener, healthier homes.” With buildings responsible for around 40 per cent of the EU's energy consumption and 35 per cent of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions, the EU’s intention is expressed at the start of the directive’s first article, setting the context of “achieving a zero-emission building stock by 2050.”