This BPIE's gap analysis answers the question: Is the Renovation Wave action plan leading to adequate measures, putting the EU on track to achieve its 2030 climate objectives?

In this analysis, the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) urges the European Commission to intensify political coordination and coherence in the implementation phase of the Renovation Wave strategy, to ensure full decarbonisation of the EU building stock in line with the EU climate goals.

According to the analysis,  the Renovation Wave’s ambition should lead to an annual deep renovation rate from 0.2% to 3% to achieve the 60% GHG emissions reductions of buildings, required to achieve the EU 2030 climate targets. BPIE’s proposed ambition level indicates that renovation efforts required to achieve EU climate targets in reality represents a factor of fifteen compared to current practice.

BPIE urges the European Commission to use the upcoming legislative revisions within the Fit for 55 package as an opportunity to take immediate measures, which, among other recommendations, should include a comprehensive revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. 

A key sector for climate action, buildings and construction is not on track. Driving down emissions will entail: aggressively reducing energy demand in the built environment, while decarbonizing the power sector and implementing materials strategies that reduce lifecycle carbon emissions. In this brochure, you will find key data, key messages and further readings about the buildings and construction sector.

According to the 2020 Buildings Global Status Report, the buildings and construction sector accounts for 35% of final energy use and 38% of energy and process-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions globally. The new report by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE) shows that the retail real estate (RRE) sector will have to play a major part in achieving carbon neutrality by 2050.

The report is a status quo analysis of existing policy and market approach to climate change actions and strategies relevant to the RRE sector, and represents the starting point for developing a common vision and language on how to decarbonise the sector. It aims to identify relevant policy and market developments that can inform tailored recommendations to industry players and policy makers in order to be in line with the Paris Agreement.

The India Energy Outlook 2021 is a new special report from the International Energy Agency’s World Energy Outlook series. The report explores the opportunities and challenges ahead for India as it seeks to ensure reliable, affordable and sustainable energy to a growing population. The report examines pathways out of the crisis that emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as longer-term trends, exploring how India’s energy sector might evolve to 2040 under a range of scenarios. The report is presented as a series of ‘deep dives’ exploring cross-cutting issues, including:

- The effects of economic growth, urbanisation and industrialisation on India’s fuel and sector-level demand trends.
- The evolution of mobility, including electrification, in the context of growing urbanisation.
- The prospects for expanding energy access, especially in rural areas.
- Flexibility requirements in the power sector under ambitious renewable capacity targets and a significant rise in electricity demand – especially from air conditioners.
- Challenges and opportunities for clean energy finance, including investments in solar energy and batteries
- The supply and infrastructure required for an expanded role for natural gas, along with a sector-level assessment of its potential.
- Impacts of India’s energy policy choices on energy access, air pollution and carbon emissions.
- India’s growing importance in global energy issues, and the implications of its development trajectory on international energy supply, trade and investment.

This report is the first output of the GlobalABC “adaptation” working group (see appendix methodology), launched at COP24 in Katowice. During the Global- ABC meeting in Rabat in October 2018, the representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco and GlobalABC members expressed their mutual wish to see the challenges of climate change adaptation and the benefits of initiatives in the real-estate, building, and construction sector (referred to in this report as the RBC sector) be put in the spotlight, as up until now they have not been given due attention. The report was coordinated by the Green Building Observatory (OID, Paris) with the support of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition.

Climate change is regarded as the major issue that humanity will face this century. Extreme weather events and failure to implement climate-change mitigation and adaptation actions are the two greatest risks that the global economy will face in terms of their likelihood and impact, according to the World Economic Forum (2019).

The built environment is particularly at risk from climate change, and as such so are the people living and working within buildings. Governments and all actors along the buildings and construction value chain therefore need to take action, as climate risks pose a real threat to the lives and economic activities of people. Buildings as long-term assets should be resilient to climate change, and also to other future risks such as pandemics and potential behavior changes.

The report is divided into: 

PART 1: Why Does Adapting Buildings to Climate Change Matter?

The first section of the report deals with global challenges regarding adaptation of the built environment: definitions and relevance, macro-economic impacts (costs of adaptation vs non-adaptation) as well as the strong links between adaptation and mitigation in the RBC sector.

PART 2: Adapting the RBC Sector to Climate Change

The second section highlights ongoing and necessary changes in the RBC sector to better integrate adaptation challenges: processes based on the building lifecycle, risk assessments, regulatory frameworks and stakeholder engagement, i.e. creating an enabling environment for change. This section introduces concrete actions to this end.

PART 3: Frameworks of Action

The third and most important section presents a framework for suggested action for key actors in the RBC sector. It summarizes specific challenges faced by each actor in adapting buildings to climate change and identifies the current global state of their practices along with recommendations for each stakeholder group in order to improve the adaptation of buildings to climate change. The action plan was informed by surveys and interviews held with relevant stakeholders and has been reviewed by sectoral organisations. Five challenges and five recommendations are presented, selected in order to focus on the most critical issues.

Download now the full report or the specific sections below! 

The Joint Task Force on Energy Efficiency Standards in Buildings developed the Framework Guidelines for Energy Efficiency Standards in Buildings (ECE/ENERGY/GE.6/2017/4), and in 2017 the Committee on Sustainable Energy and the Committee on Urban Development, Housing and Land Management endorsed the document. To deploy the Framework Guidelines for Energy Efficiency Standards in Buildings and to set in motion the process of setting up international centres of excellence and a consortium of educational and research institutions, and thereby to accelerate transformation of the world’s building stock, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe launched a programme on high-performance buildings.

Real estate organizations recognize the strong business case for incorporating environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their normal business operations with the increasing public focus on climate change and its impacts, new policies affecting building energy performance, and pressure from investors. In addition, strong returns from utility savings, tenant demand, new opportunities to access capital, and other value-creation opportunities are spurring investment in sustainability and energy efficiency.

Building on the leading sustainability work that Greenprint member organizations have been implementing since 2009, this Blueprint is for real estate owners and investors looking to develop or accelerate a sustainability program, and developers looking for ways to integrate sustainability into their overall development strategy.

The Efficient Buildings Community has just developed a new set of recommendations for European and National decision-makers. 

The eight recommendations are grounded in the experience of the Mediterranean local authorities and they aim to bring the lessons learned in the discussion about the next generation of energy policies: the European Green Deal, issued by the Commission last December, and the recovery plans in response to Covid-19, currently underway in each Member State. 

The Efficient Buildings Community calls for a stronger vision for building-related policies, a proper "Mediterranean efficient buildings action programme“. Policy-makers need to acknowledge that energy efficiency in the Mediterranean countries relies on other parameters than in the rest of the EU.

The Global Status Report for Buildings and Construction is a reference document of the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC). The fifth edition of this annual snapshot of the progress of the buildings and construction sector globally towards the achievement of the goals of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, particularly on the drivers of CO2 emissions and energy demand globally and the status of policies, finance, technologies, and solutions that support a zero-emission, efficient, and resilient buildings and construction sector. This year’s Buildings-GSR features input from over 110 GlobalABC members and experts from all regions: a true collaborative effort, building a global community. This year’s Buildings-GSR shines a light on the disruptions of COVID-19 and some of the responses in 2020, and includes a snapshot on emerging key issues: materials, nature-based solutions, health, and cooling for resilience. It also introduces a new index to track progress in decarbonisation in the sector – the Buildings Climate Tracker (BCT).

While the total final energy consumption of the global buildings sector remained at the same level in 2019 compared to the previous year, CO2 emissions from the operation of buildings have increased to their highest level yet at around 10 GtCO2, or 28% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions. With the inclusion of emissions from the buildings construction industry, this share increases to 38% of total global energy-related CO2 emissions. The slightly lower proportion of buildings emissions compared with the 39% seen in 2018 was due to the increases in transport and other industry emissions relative to buildings.

Sources: (IEA 2020d; IEA 2020b). All rights reserved. Adapted from “IEA World Energy Statistics and Balances” and “Energy TechnologyPerspectives".

Authors: Dr. Ian Hamilton and Dr. Harry Kennard from University College London (UCL) and Oliver Rapf, Dr. Judit Kockat and Dr. Sheikh Zuhaib from the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE), with support from Thibaut Abergel and Michael Oppermann from the International Energy Agency (IEA), and support from Martina Otto, Sophie Loran, Nora Steurer and Natacha Nass from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC)

Findings of this report show that doubling the overall energy renovation rate of 1% is insufficient to achieve more ambitious GHG emission reductions of 55% compared to 1990 levels.   In reality, Europe needs to reach a minimum 3% annual deep renovation by 2030 to achieve the 60% emissions reduction in buildings, which is what the Renovation Wave highlights as needed to meet a 55% climate target and keep the EU on track towards climate-neutrality. 

Alongside with reducing energy consumption through building renovations, accelerating renewable energy penetration together with a systemic fossil-fuel phaseout, is paramount to decarbonize the building sector. Our paper finds that renewable energy must increase to 53% of the final energy mix in buildings, while fossil fuels must decrease to 47% total by 2030.