23 MEPs from 13 countries and 4 political groups sent a letter to Commissioner Cañete calling for the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to include a vision to transform the EU building stock into ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ by 2050.
EPBD revision must include a long-term vision for the EU building stock to achieve NZEB levels by 2050
Dear Commissioner Cañete,
Transforming our building stock into ‘nearly zero energy buildings’ (NZEB) by 2050 is not only a prerequisite to meeting our climate targets, it also offers multiple other benefits such as reducing fuel poverty, increasing jobs and growth in the EU, empowering energy consumers to actively participate in energy markets and mitigating energy supply dependency.
In reaching this ambitious goal, the European Commission has a key role to play and therefore needs to propose forward-looking and effective measures to kick start the energy renovation market.
We in the European Parliament call on you to ensure that the revised EPBD proposal includes a clear renovation vision for the existing buildings stock to bring it to NZEB levels by 2050. This concept is already familiar to Member States, and would help in providing much needed long-term certainty to consumers, businesses and governments alike. By having such a goal, Member States would be incited to realise the full cost-effective energy renovation potential of their buildings and maximise related benefits.
Time is running out to meet our building renovation ambitions and we risk locking in huge amounts of savings and failing to grasp the numerous health, economic, societal and climate benefits. In this respect, the EPBD revision is a window of opportunity to address our leaky and energy wasting buildings.
We count on your leadership for this initiative to be remembered as a cornerstone of EU energy and climate policy so as to achieve our global commitment made at the COP21.
Yours sincerely,
The MEPs who have signed this letter:
- Brian Hayes, EPP, Ireland
- Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, ALDE, Spain
- Paul Brannen, S&D, UK
- Soledad Cabezón Ruiz, S&D, Spain
- Nessa Childers, S&D, Ireland
- Lidia Joanna Geringer de Oedenberg, S&D, Poland
- Theresa Griffin, S&D, UK
- Morten Helveg Petersen, ALDE, Denmark
- Jude Kirton-Darling, S&D, UK
- Jeppe Kofod, S&D, Denmark
- Jo Leinen, S&D, Germany
- Marlene Mizzi, S&D, Malta
- Sirpa Pietikäinen, EPP, Finland
- Pavel Poc, S&D, Czech Republic
- Carolina Punset, ALDE, Spain
- Inmaculada Rodríguez-Piñero Fernández, S&D, Spain
- Bart Staes, Greens/EFA, Belgium
- Davor Škrlec, Greens/EFA, Croatia
- Keith Taylor, Greens/EFA, UK
- Claudiu Ciprian Tănăsescu, S&D, Romania
- Helga Trüpel, Greens/EFA, Germany
- Ivo Vajgl, ALDE, Slovenia
- Julie Ward, S&D, UK
All these MEPs are supporters of the Renovate Europe Campaign. Renovate Europe brings together 37 partners from across the building value chain (including companies, trade unions and national associations) and calls for a reduction in the energy demand of the building stock in the EU by 80% by 2050.
