Renovate Europe Day 2022, “Eyes on the Horizon: Renovating our Buildings to REPower the EU”, took place in the European Parliament, co-hosted by EPBD Rapporteur Ciarán Cuffe MEP (Greens/EFA, Ireland), and was streamed online, with a video address from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The event was divided into two sessions. The first focused on the ongoing EPBD recast and the role of a tool such as Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) (read the joint letter co-signed by Renovate Europe encouraging ambitious MEPS). The second looked at how we can finance the Renovation Wave, through public funds-based mechanisms as well as private capital and bank schemes.
The final programme of the day
Highlights of Renovate Europe Day 2022
All the slides from the day
The whole conference on YouTube
Agenda
14:00
Opening session
- Ciarán Cuffe, MEP (Greens/EFA, Ireland), Rapporteur on the EPBD
- Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission (video address)
- Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director
14:15
Time for action with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)
- Marcos Ros Sempere, MEP (S&D, Spain) and Seán Kelly, MEP (EPP, Ireland) (video addresses)
- Louise Sunderland, Senior Advisor, Regulatory Assistance Project
- Oliver Rapf, Executive Director, Buildings Performance Institute Europe
- Ciarán Cuffe, MEP (Greens/EFA, Ireland), Rapporteur on the EPBD
15:05
Financing the Renovation Wave
- Vilislava Ivanova, Senior Researcher, E3G
- Pascal Canfin, MEP (Renew, France) (video address)
- Ralf Goldmann, Head of Division, European Investment Bank
- Stanislas Jourdan, Executive Director, Positive Money Europe
15:55
Concluding remarks
Adrian Joyce, Renovate Europe Campaign Director
16:00
Networking drinks reception
Provided by Renovate Europe.
President Ursula von der Leyen’s address
The address with subtitles in Croatian, Greek, Polish, Slovenian and Spanish.
MEP statements
Marcos Ros Sempere (S&D, Spain)
Seán Kelly (EPP, Ireland)
Pascal Canfin (Renew, France)
National events
Renovate Europe’s national partners held REDay2022 events in Slovakia, Ireland, Bulgaria and Poland.
Funding for energy renovation
One of the recurrent concerns of lawmakers towards the scale-up of energy renovation is the argument that it is too expensive and there are no funds to face it.
That is not true!
As we show in our updated infographic, in the 2021–2027 period the available EU funding streamlined for renovation of buildings amounts to a total of up to €1,898.5 billion.
At the time, EU Member States had allocated more than €570bn since September 2021 to schemes designed to cushion the financial impact of the energy crisis and keep consumers and businesses out of bankruptcy. However, long-term goals that will shield Europe from a repeat of this crisis in the future, such as buildings renovation, are stuck on the investment back-burner. This must change. Read Adrian Joyce’s op-ed on Energy Monitor.
Briefings: speeding up the delivery of renovation
The availability of an appropriate workforce and the supply of effective advisory services are key elements which deserve special attention and increased funding to accelerate building energy renovation in the EU.
Renovate Europe, alongside E3G and with the support of its national partners, produced two briefings outlining the key challenges, identifying what action is needed, giving best practice examples that could be replicated, and an overview of the state of play in each of the 18+1 Member States where Renovate Europe has national partners.
