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We wish you a warm and happy holiday season!
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Dear friends and colleagues,
Although 2020 has presented us with unprecedented challenges, we hope that the past 12 months have also brought you joy, a renewed love for your home, and new perspectives that will continue to serve you and help you grow in 2021. Notwithstanding the obstacles of the past year, it is not without pride that the EuroPACE Consortium looks back on a productive 2020, where we have stood together and have adapted to working from home and using teleconferencing to keep up the activities.
In this holiday edition, we are looking forward with hope. We asked industry leaders from Renovate Europe, the EIB, BPIE and Climate Bonds Initiative to share with us their views on the future. More below!
Let's make 2021 a success.
Thank you for your support.
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BPIE's Senior Communications Manager Caroline Milne, EuroACE Secretary General Adrian Joyce, EIB Senior Economist Tatiana Bosteels and CBI's Head of Policy and Government, Prashant Vaze
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QUESTION 1: "Which three EU-wide actions and/or changes are at the top of your home renovation/energy efficiency sector 'wish list' for 2021?"
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Caroline Milne: "It’s tough to choose only three! In our December publication on the role of buildings towards achieving 2030 climate targets, we explain that the average rate of renovation should be increased to minimum 3% deep renovation per year to ensure renovation of the full building stock by mid-century. To achieve this, we need better integrated planning across EU policy. 2021 will see the revision of key EU legislation affecting energy efficiency (EED, EPBD and RES directive), which offers the opportunity to ensure a more comprehensive strategy for buildings is built into all three pieces of legislation."
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At the top of Adrian Joyce's wish list is "the introduction of minimum energy performance standards for all homes – high standards that are phased in over time to ensure that the sector can prepare and adjust. We need to increase the desire of homeowners for renovation through increased and continuous information campaigns on the benefits and necessity of undertaking deep energy renovations."
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Prashant Vaze wishes for "the EU taxonomy to adopt EPC 'Band A' as the threshold for a green and energy efficient home. I hope that central banks guided by the ECB provide mortgage providers an incentive to reduce interest rates, by allowing banks to set aside less scarce capital against loans they make to energy efficient homes, and lastly that we train unemployed people with the skills they need to undertake energy efficient retrofits."
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Tatiana Bosteels adds that "to date, the energy efficiency investment gap remains too large, while energy efficiency is the single most significant contributor to the enhanced new EU climate targets of 55% GHG emissions reductions by 2030. The EU and Member States must ensure that a significant amount of the +/-30% of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility, and the EU MFF dedicated to climate action is assigned to energy efficiency and building renovation."
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QUESTION 2: "What do you think is the best way to make sure sustainable home renovation remains a hot topic in 2021, ensuring a high volume of projects?"
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Prashant Vaze stresses that "the most important thing governments need to do to make sure sustainable home renovation remains a hot topic in 2021 is to bring out policies like the UK, Germany and Denmark that use stimulus money for renovation and to stick with plans even if take-up is low to begin with. Instead of stop-start policymaking, we need a long term-consistent approach. The reason why the German KfW initiative has been successful with deep retrofits is because they have stuck with the policy for many years."
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Tatiana Bosteels: "We should be making clear the role of building renovation in supporting economic recovery as part of the EU Recovery and Resilience Facility. The emphasis should be on the potential of building renovation to maintain and create jobs and develop green skills in support to the EU economic recovery. To ensure a high volume of energy and renovation projects, Member States should capture this potential in their respective National Recovery and Resilience plans."
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Adrian Joyce adds that "it may be powerful to showcase good completed projects in mass media programmes and/or initiating award schemes that give out prizes to the top ten best performing projects in each country each year."
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Caroline Milne: "If the European Council on December 10-11th agrees on a strengthened 2030 climate target to reduce emissions by 55% in relation to 1990 levels, this is already an important first step to keeping building renovation 'hot'. We know beyond a doubt that buildings are a key factor in Europe's decarbonization strategy; GHG from buildings must reduce by 60% in relation to 2015 levels to get to where we are planning to go."
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A year filled with online events
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Below you will find webinars, conferences and presentations, including links to recordings:
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Replicating EuroPACE: City Working Groups
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EuroPACE City Working Groups are a core element of the project's activities. Designed to explore and discuss the implementation of EuroPACE in European cities, the workshops have taken place both in-person and online and have provided various valuable legal and practical insights.
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Lisbon - On the 22nd of July, the first Leader City workshop took place with Lisboa E-Nova, City Council specialists, lawyers and housing experts delving into the EuroPACE financing mechanism. On the 2nd of December, a second workshop was held, aiming to explore successful one-stop-shop models with the support of contractor's associations.
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Mouscron - On the 6th of October, a full-day in-person Leader City Workshop took place in Namur, Belgium with the city of Mouscron, several representatives of the Walloon Region, the Walloon Social Credit Company and experienced lawyers.
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Valencia - On the 19th and 21st of October, two workshops with regards to the legal and administrative implications and practical aspects of EuroPACE implementation in the City and Region of Valencia took place online, inviting key actors to share their insights and building upon previous experiences in Spain.
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EuroPACE Consortium partner GNE Finance will build further upon insights gained during the Valencia workshops under the umbrella of SaveTheHomes, in which the City and Region of Valencia also participate. |
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EuroPACE featured on the Enlit platform
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EuroPACE featured amongst other H2020 projects
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We are pleased to announce that EuroPACE is featured on the Enlit platform, which aims to endorse EU funded projects that contribute to the digitalisation of energy. Alongside EuroPACE, several of its sister projects such as SaveTheHomes, FITHOME, EEnvest and ORFEE are featured. |
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Keeping PACE with the Latest Developments
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Relevant articles, reports, opinion pieces
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- WorldGBC's newly released Health & Wellbeing Framework takes a closer look at the important impact the built environment has on human health and productivity, underpinning six defining principles for a healthy and sustainable built environment. Read more.
- BPIE's Executive Director Oliver Rapf wrote a column on the importance of Member States taking decisive action to make the Renovation Wave a success. "It is time governments roll up their sleeves and work with their respective building community to launch multiple national and local renovation waves," he says - and we could not agree more. Read more.
- BPIE has released its report "On the way to a climate-neutral Europe", in which it presents two scenarios for the future, demonstrating the key responsibilities policymakers have in accelerating the renovation wave. It further stresses the importance of achieving a 3% renovation rate in Europe as quickly as possible to achieve decarbonisation goals. Read more.
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Thank you for being part of the EuroPACE Community
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We look forward to working with you to make EuroPACE a success
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Sincerely,
The EuroPACE Partners
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