Engaging Retail Lenders in Home Renovations

Europe is in a race to achieve independence from foreign energy sources, relieve its citizens from rising energy prices, and meet its ambitious climate targets. Consuming 42% of energy and responsible for over one third of energy-related GHG emissions, the EU’s buildings must be decarbonised to achieve this.

How can we identify which buildings to renovate? How can we provide access to low-cost, long-term financing for deep renovations across Europe?

With business relationships with more than 25 million EU customers, mortgage lenders are the single most connected stakeholder group to Europe’s buildings. As of 2022, mortgages accounted for about 80% of lending to households. The mortgage is the most appropriate and widely used financing tool to give homeowners investment capital and, at the same time, the opportunity to upgrade their buildings to make them resilient against energy shocks, more affordable to run and more comfortable and healthy to live in.

In this event, the Renovate Europe Campaign and Climate Strategy (CS) will present the current state of EU buildings’ renovation efforts and the findings of the latest CS report “Engaging Retail Lenders in Home Renovation”, calling for EU mortgage lenders to play a more proactive role in unlocking the trillions of home equity stored in the buildings owned by their clients through the voluntary uptake of an innovative instrument, Mortgage Portfolio Standards (MPS). EU policymakers, buildings experts and finance sector stakeholders will then exchange views on these subjects. The event takes place at Rond-Point Schuman 6, Brussels, and online.

There is growing momentum for Mortgage Portfolio Standards, as over a third of the top 30 banks in Europe already have a form of voluntary MPS, or equivalent, in place. We look forward to a lively discussion on their potential, design and place within Europe’s decarbonisation efforts. Included in the final version of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) adopted by the European Parliament on 12 March 2024, Mortgage Portfolio Standards are defined as:

“Mechanisms incentivising mortgage lenders to establish a path to increase the median energy performance of the portfolio of buildings covered by their mortgages towards 2030 and 2050, and to encourage potential clients to make their property more energy-performant along the Union’s decarbonisation ambition and relevant energy targets in the area of energy consumption in buildings, relying on the definition of sustainable economic activities in the EU Taxonomy.”

Agenda