The European Committee of the Regions urges the
European Commission and Member States to establish
easier and faster financing mechanisms for local
and regional authorities to undertake renovation
projects
The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) has unanimously adopted an
opinion on the Renovation Wave
, the EU's plan to upgrade the energy
performance of Europe's building stock.
Accounting for 40% of Europe's energy
consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG), the renovation of buildings is key for
the EU to reach climate neutrality by 2050.
Cities and regions call for a revision of state
aid schemes, more flexible budget rules to
maximise investments and renovations,
subnational targets for the renovation of
buildings and the integration of renewable
energy sources in renovation projects.
Following a
plenary debate
with EU commissioner for energy Kadri Simson,
Enrico Rossi (IT/PES)
, CoR rapporteur on the
opinion on the Renovation Wave
, Member of Signa Municipal Council (Florence) and
former president of the Tuscany Region (2010-2020),
said:
"The green recovery begins in our homes. With
the Renovation Wave as a fundamental pillar of
the Green Deal, we can relaunch our economy,
create 160 000 jobs in the building sector, and
fight energy poverty, while at the same time
meeting our climate neutrality goals. We need
to make sure that the resources of the new
Multiannual Financial Framework, the Recovery
Plan, and the national and regional funds are
used in synergy and not diverted to elsewhere.
For its success, cities and regions must play a
key role. This is why we need concrete tools,
such as a local technical assistance facility,
accessible to all local and regional
authorities for the implementation of the
Renovation Wave, along with trainings for
workers, in particular in SMEs, to help create
more jobs."
The CoR calls on the European Commission and Member
States to establish direct financing mechanisms for
local and regional authorities to undertake
renovation projects. It also urges for the delivery
of the announced revision of European state aid
schemes for energy efficiency in buildings in order
to overcome current investment barriers.
Cities and regions urge the European Commission to
work with Member States to establish more flexible
budget rules for local and regional administrations
so as to enhance their capacity to invest in the
renovation of existing buildings and new social
housing. It also points out that, in order to
implement the Renovation Wave, the Commission and
the Member States must provide significant support
to the construction sector to overcome gaps in
knowledge regarding skills, technology and the
retraining of workers.
The Renovation Wave must be supported by a solid
technical assistance available to all local and
regional authorities. Members advocate for
strengthening and decentralising the
EIB's ELENA facility
by streamlining the model of One-Stop-Shop to
deliver technical assistance to all local and
regional authorities and businesses.
The CoR opinion urges the European Commission and
Member States to fully incorporate the Renovation
Wave into the recovery and resilience programmes
(RRF) as well as the European Structural and
Investment Funds (ESIF).
Additional CoR proposals to successfully
roll-out the Renovation Wave in every territory
include:
- Measures to avoid "renovictions" (evictions by
renovation). The European Commission and all levels
of governments must avoid that renovation costs are
passed on to the tenants and proposes rent
increases to be balanced by energy-savings.
- The CoR calls on the European Commission to
require that the Member States give local and
regional authorities a full and effective role in
preparing and acting on their national recovery and
resilience plans by developing effective multilevel
climate and energy dialogues.
- The renovation wave must be equally deployed to
less urbanised, more outlying areas, including
rural communities.
- To foster circular processes in the building
sector and strengthen certification mechanisms that
encourage the selection of construction materials
and techniques based on their lifecycle.
- Strengthen local energy communities and the
"prosumer" through decentralised energy production
and incentives to develop the "warm rent" model –
the basic principle applied in Sweden and Finland –
whereby property owners are encouraged to save
energy while guaranteeing a suitable indoor
environment.
- Extend the analysis of energy poverty beyond
individual households and use the model of
"environmentally-friendly manufacturing areas" as a
useful reference for involving the manufacturing
industry in the Renovation Wave.
- Provide significant support to the construction
sector, which has been severely affected by the
crisis and often involves small businesses.
- More ambitious efforts to decarbonise residential
heating and cooling, which is responsible for more
than 80% of the overall energy consumption of
buildings in the EU.
- Members welcome the
Climate Pact
and commit to support its roll-out, in particular
by involving citizens. The CoR recognises the
fundamental role of the Climate Pact to guarantee
that the Renovation Wave is deployed effectively,
and that capacity and tools are available to local
and regional authorities.
- Members call on the European Commission to
continue promoting the deployment of energy
management systems and Building Information
Modeling (BIM).
- Develop a systematic application of Green Public
Procurement criteria for the buildings' sector to
bring about a rapid reduction in energy consumption
and ensure the broad take-up of more sustainable
management models.
- Data on buildings' energy consumption should be
readily available free of charge across the entire
EU.
- Set subnational targets for the integration of
renewable energy sources in buildings.
- The CoR endorses the proposal for a Smart
Readiness Indicator (SRI) to assess the degree to
which buildings are ready for the integration of
smart technologies and to inform building owners
and occupants of the findings.
- To update the energy performance certificate
(EPC) framework so as to increase the proportion of
the building stock covered by energy performance
certificates.
- The legislative requirements for purchasing and
renovating all existing public buildings, minimum
energy performance standards and mandatory targets
for annual renovation rates need to be flexible to
account for the different building characteristics
and circumstances in every territory.
Background Information
It is estimated that between 34 and 50 million
European citizens suffer from energy poverty. The
CoR opinion on the Renovation Wave includes a
proposal to the European Commission and Member
States to calculate energy poverty at the
subregional level.
While 75% of existing buildings in the EU are
considered energy inefficient, only 1% currently
undergo renovation each year. It is estimated that
the Renovation Wave can create an additional 160
000 jobs in the construction sector by 2030.
Together with the decarbonisation of the transport
sector and the greening of cities, the renovation
of the EU's building stock is a key
Green Deal
priority. Not only due to its potential ability to
reduce both energy use and CO2 emissions, but also
as a driver for sustainable growth and job
creation. The construction sector is the largest
generator of jobs per million euros invested (
IEA 2020
).
The Renovation Wave was launched on 14 October 2020
through the European Commission Communication
'A Renovation Wave for Europe - greening
our buildings, creating jobs, improving
lives'
. It is a key pillar of the
European Green Deal roadmap
.
The Renovation Wave aims to remove barriers for
building renovations. The Energy Efficiency
Financial Institutions Group (
EEFIG
) has identified six types of barriers: structural
barriers, information barriers, market failures,
lack of expertise, a combination of factors making
it difficult to aggregate projects and/or carry out
more efficient district approaches, and regulatory
barriers. All these obstacles directly affect local
and regional authorities and hinder their capacity
to invest more in energy efficient projects.
The renovation of buildings is a key priority of
Green Deal Going Local (GDGL),
a new initiative of the European Committee of the
Regions, which aims to place cities and regions at
the core of the EU's transition towards
climate-neutrality. Green Deal Going Local was
launched on 15 June 2020 with the creation of a
specific Working Group
composed of 13 members
. Read the press release
here.
Discover 200 Green Deal best practices in our
online map.
Contact:
David Crous
david.crous@cor.europa.eu
+32 (0) 470 88 10 37