European plans for sustainable building renovation

European Commissioner Frans Timmermans has announced plans for EU countries to renovate twice as many buildings over the next ten years in order to reduce energy consumption. This will contribute to the EU's goal of making the European Union completely climate neutral by 2050.

The new plans state that the renovation of buildings to significantly reduce energy consumption is crucial to achieving the EU objectives. The European Commission wants to set a minimum standard for the energy performance of buildings. This standard must also be made mandatory. The EU will also make European subsidies available. This will be financed, among other things, from the corona recovery fund.

The plans will also create additional jobs. This new strategy focuses primarily on three themes: making buildings more energy efficient, carbon-free heating and cooling, and renovating public buildings.

Currently, 36 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the EU come from the built environment. There are currently more than 200 million buildings in the EU that were built before 2001. These buildings are lagging behind in terms of energy performance and need major renovation to meet the plans set out in the European Green Deal to achieve.

At the moment, discussions are also taking place in the Netherlands about the introduction of new covenants on CO2 reduction for industry and a roadmap for the built environment. When more is known about this, we will share it with you.

Want to know more? Be sure to read this article on Europa.nu.