Slashing emissions in Europe hinges on an ambitious renovation revolution that transforms the buildings we live, work and learn in. This is according to Climate Group’s new handbook, published in collaboration with major corporates – Carrier, CBRE, Danfoss, Rockwool, Siemens, Signify and VELUX.
The handbook lays out essential steps to increase collaboration between governments, businesses and financial institutions, to drive up annual renovation rates in Europe’s buildings – delivering on the EU’s ambitious climate goals and the COP28 energy efficiency pledge.
Europe’s renovation rates are stuck at 1% per year, while deep renovations, which can reduce a building’s energy consumption by at least 60%, are at just 0.2%. That’s far below the 2.5% recommended by the International Energy Agency (IEA) to achieve net zero by 2050.
The new handbook, ‘How to deliver a renovation revolution in Europe’s buildings’, documents several persistent barriers that are hampering the widespread roll-out of energy renovations – namely financing issues, skills shortages, out of date data and lengthy permitting processes.
"At the current pace and scale, it would take at least a century to renovate Europe’s existing building stock into homes, offices and public buildings fit for the 21st century. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in the EU presents a huge opportunity for a renovation revolution that slashes Europe’s emissions, so it's critical that we meet this moment with bold ambition. It’s time to double the annual rate of energy renovations in Europe to meet the COP28 pledge on energy efficiency,” said Sam Kimmins, Director of Energy, Climate Group.
The publication of this handbook comes as the IEA warns the world is off-course to meet the COP28 pledge. For Europe to get on track, doubling the annual renovation rate is vital, and multistakeholder collaboration is key to achieving that, says Climate Group.
This handbook demonstrates how governments, businesses and financial institutions can accelerate progress on energy efficiency in the built environment, and learn from existing replicable solutions. This involves aggregating renovation projects to unlock greater investment, more collaborative planning between the public and private sectors, using up-to-date buildings data to drive improved decision-making, embedding energy efficiency into ESG standards, and linking renovation projects with EV infrastructure roll out.
“This handbook is timely, arriving as nations start to translate the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) into concrete national and regional action plans. It serves as an indispensable guide to fostering collaboration between the public and private sectors”, argued Kadri Simson, European Commissioner for Energy, European Commission.
Increased renovation rates not only drive up energy efficiency, they also improve energy security, save money, improve health and wellbeing, and would potentially generate up to 160,000 new green jobs by 2030, added Climate Group.
Tobias Huber, Sustainability Officer, Siemens said, “The EPBD and its national implementation present building owners with a unique opportunity to leverage cutting-edge building technologies, such as automation and control systems, to propel our journey towards sustainable and smart buildings. As we strive to meet the December 2025 deadline, let us harness all the proven energy conservation measures, ultimately creating a built environment that is not only energy efficient but also technologically advanced.”
“With our connected lighting, light levels can automatically be adjusted based on occupancy and time of day, allowing buildings to meet all requirements of the EPBD in Europe. The intelligent lighting system also provides real-time insights on energy consumption, as well as temperature and humidity, for better management, control and operational efficiency,” said Mario Giordano, Global Head of Public & Government Affairs, Signify.
“Novel approaches, such as adding extra floors in the shape of lightweight, wooden structures that can be built off-site and craned onto existing buildings are an opportunity to not just add substantial amounts of housing without requiring new land, potentially infringing on green spaces or forcing residents to move further away from their jobs, social lives and public service, it is also a very sustainable way of doing so: The apartments are highly insulated and feature passive cooling and thus minimise energy consumption.
On top of that, building new homes on top of old buildings in urban locations results in fewer emissions than constructing from new, because the streets, public infrastructure, transport links and leisure facilities already exist in that location. As such, this is a great way to both increase renovation and make smarter use of existing buildings while tackling the housing crisis across Europe.” Fleming Voetmann, Vice President of External Relations and Sustainability, VELUX.
“The Sønderborg Hospital is a prime example demonstrating the benefits of sector coupling. Heat pumps provide cooling to the hospital and the recovered excess heat from the cooling processes is used for heating purposes. The same principle applies to many other applications, such as supermarkets, datacenters, or process heat in industry. Using excess heat, building on the synergies between heating and cooling, is a major opportunity to decarbonise while significantly increasing energy efficiency, saving costs and reducing emissions.” Andrea Voigt, Vice President, Head of Global Public Affairs, Sustainability and Communication, Danfoss Climate Solutions.
“Equipping the Teatro Real theatre with an ultra-efficient HVAC system posed a significant technical challenge, requiring equipment placement in difficult-to-access locations in order to maintain the integrity of the historic site – all while the theatre remained operational. Carrier’s service division demonstrated tremendous technical skill and commitment by assembling units on-site, piece by piece. As a global leader in intelligent climate and energy solutions, Carrier is proud to have supported the Teatro Real theatre in achieving its sustainability goals,” said Ana Maria Garcia, Southern Europe Carrier CHVAC Managing Director, Carrier.
“At CBRE, we believe the entire real estate industry must mobilise to boost the renovation rate of existing building stock. Our solutions are strategic, optimised and scalable – all supported by data-driven insights. Our expertise lies in crafting solutions that benefit all stakeholders, meet regulations and enhance the sustainability of the built environment.” Ludovic Chambe, Head of ESG & Sustainability Solutions, CBRE.
“Thinking about the future, thinking about innovation, thinking about quality of the built environment and its effect on our quality of life, the paradox is that the built environment of the future is already with us – at least 80% of it – because the new-build rate in the EU is below 1% per annum.” Adrian Joyce, Campaign Director, Renovate Europe.
“Around 35% of buildings in the EU are over 50 years old and almost 75% are energy inefficient. Only between 0.4 and 1.2% of the real estate stock (depending on the country) is renewed each year. Basque Country is not an exception. Consumers do not perceive building improvement opportunities as profitable and technically viable. For this reason, from the Basque Government we promote investment and information campaigns for sustainable construction and rehabilitation, with a special focus on energy efficiency, because it is not only profitable in economic terms, but also in social and environmental terms.” Mikel Jauregi, Minister for Industry, Energy Transition and Sustainability, Basque Country.