European Policy Update July 2017

Council Finalise Position on the Energy Efficiency Directive and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

On 26th June, the EU Council agreed their position on a proposal for the revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). The agreements of these positions will enable the start of negotiations with the European Parliament under the Estonian presidency.

However, there is concern that Council’s position weakens both the directives and puts the EU at risk of falling short of commitments agreed under the Paris Agreement. Acknowledging the difficulty in reaching an agreed position, EU Energy and Climate Commissioner Miguel, Arias Cañete said the position of Council fell “below the ambition of the Commission”.

Under the revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), Council are proposing  an overall EU energy efficiency target of 30% – but have delayed a decision on whether this is binding. The directive further proposes decreasing the energy savings obligations of 1.5% to 1.0% for the period 2026-2030, unless a review in 2024 concludes that the EU is not on track to meet its targets.

Council’s  revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) weakens the text proposed by the Commission. The proposed text does not clarify what the 2050 for a decarbonised building stock look like and, although the contribution of building renovation to the 2030 energy efficiency target is clearly recognised in the Commission’s impact assessment, it is not referenced in Council’s position.

Further, the article on renovation does not introduce the concept of trigger points for renovation and only commits to ‘take account’ of energy poverty. The lack of ambition in the text means that the potential of renovation strategies is not clearly defined, thereby removing any incentive to ramp up the renovation rate to levels required to meet both EU and Global climate goals.

The European Parliament’s energy committee (ITRE) is expected to adopt its reports on the two directives in October. Over the next few months, the ERN will consider how to work with the European Parliament to ensure the final directives contain the appropriate level of ambition needed to meet goals for 2050.

 Commission introduce Level(s) at EU Sustainable Energy Week

During EU Sustainable Energy Week in Brussels last month, the European Commission launched ‘Level(s)’ a new open source assessment framework aimed at improving sustainability and driving demand for better buildings across Europe. A key component of the Circular Economy package, Level(s) aims to move beyond just energy performance by mainstreaming lifecycle and circular thinking in buildings.

Formerly known as the’ EU Framework for Sustainable Buildings’, Level(s) has been developed by the European Commission in collaboration with a large and diverse set of building stakeholders including Green Building Councils across Europe.

Level(s) is a voluntary reporting framework and each indicator is designed to link the individual building’s impact with the priorities for circular economy at the European level, including: greenhouse gas emissions, resource efficiency, water efficiency, healthy and comfortable spaces, resilience to climate change and life cycle costing.

Using a stepped approach, users of Level(s) can move from simple through to more complex life cycle assessment calculation methods, depending on their level of expertise.

The final set of indicators will be launched in July 2017. A testing phase for Level(s) will launch in autumn 2017 and run for two years. Further information on testing can be found here.

In parallel with the testing phase, Green Building Councils and partners of the ERN are working on a strategy to identify activities that GBCs can undertake across their priority areas to support implementation.

 EU Outlines Future Funding Plan

On 28 June, the European Commission published a Reflection Paper on the Future of EU Finances . This follows on on from a process initiated in March when the Commission published its White Paper on the Future of Europe.

After the publication of this white paper, the Commission presented a number of reflection papers on key topics that will shape Europe in the coming years. This paper on finance looks at the key elements for discussion, structured around the five scenarios of the White Paper – EU simply carry on, do less together, move ahead at various levels of intensity, do less but more efficiently or do a lot more together.

In the paper, the EU sets out the basic features of the EU budget and charts the principal trends and developments in key policy areas for the period 2014-20, it is anticipated that 20% of all EU expenditure will focus on climate change.

The paper also discusses how a single investment fund, or a single set of rules for existing funds, could facilitate more coherent investment and simplify the life of beneficiaries. This will ensure stronger complementarity between cohesion policy and Horizon 2020 or the Connecting Europe Facility

On 14 June, European Parliament voted to strengthen a draft Commission proposal for a regulation to limit post-2020 national emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) in sectors not covered by the EU emissions trading system, including transport, buildings, agriculture and waste sectors.

The proposed regulation will succeed the Effort Sharing Decision which sets annual national GHG emission limits for the period 2013-2020. The cuts will help deliver on the EU’s overall target of a cut of 40% from 1990 levels. To provide more long-term stability, MEPs also fixed an objective of cutting GHG emissions by 80% by 2050, compared to 2005 levels.

Further strengthening the regulation, each EU member state will have to follow an emissions reduction pathway, calculated from a starting point of 2018, instead of 2020 as proposed by the Commission.

Once Council has negotiated a position on this, informal trilogue negotiations will begin between Parliament, the Commission and Council.

Introduction of Energy Labelling Rules for Products

On 26 June, Council adopted a regulation setting out a framework for energy efficiency labelling for products. The regulation establishes a deadline to replace the current A+, A++, A+++ classes with an easier to understand A to G scale.

From 2020, the A-G stickers for televisions, lamps, washing machines, fridges and dishwashers will replace the current system. Labels like air-conditioners, tumble dryers, vacuum cleaners, ovens, range hoods, and residential ventilation will co-exist between 2021 and 2025, when the old ones will be discontinued.

Further, product databases will be operational from January 2019 allowing consumers to make comparisons between products, and enable EU member states to enforce labelling requirements and ensure that efficiency calculations correspond to manufacturers declarations.

However, there is some concern that the delay until 2030 for heating products is too long and energy labels with differing messages co-existing on the market will confuse consumers.

 New Platform to Monitor European Waste Negotiations

In May, the European Commission, Parliament and the Council began negotiations to finalise the text of the EU waste laws. These negotiations are expected to last until the end of the year.

The EU Council’s position was agreed in May and is much less ambitious than Parliament’s position. However, it is expected that the position of Council is expected to change as negotiations continue.

The anticipation of Council’s changing position, coupled with a lack of transparency has resulted in some key Brussels stakeholders developing a platform to monitor the positions of each individual Member States on elements of the proposed waste package such as:

• The proposed 65% recycling target for Municipal Solid Waste
• Mandatory separate collection of bio-waste
• Targets for re-use

Further information on the position of individual Member States can be found here.

 Commission Publishes Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills

On 1 June, the Commission launched a “Blueprint for Sectoral Cooperation on Skills” which aims to address skills shortages in specific economic sectors by providing a framework for strategic cooperation between  stakeholders in different sectors. The Blueprint is initially piloted in 6 sectors: automotive, maritime technology, space, defence, textile and tourism.

Under the blueprint, sectors must establish a partnership between businesses, trade unions, education providers and other stakeholders to prepare an EU wide skills strategy for the sector. The process will be supported by Erasmus+ funding by EUR 4 million per sector with one project per sector. The project will have a duration of up to 4 years.

The European Commission is considering sectors for a second wave of implementation starting in the autumn 2017. As one of the more mature sectors with a high awareness of the importance of skills, it is likely that the construction sector will be selected for the second wave of the blueprint. Focus areas identified within the construction sector include energy efficiency; digitisation and circular economy.

New H2020 Project, iBroad focuses on developing individual building roadmaps

On 03 July, the iBroad project kicked off in Athens, Greece. iBroad aims to design, develop and demonstrate the concept of individual Building Renovation Roadmaps (BRP). These BRPs will serve as a tool outlining deep step-by-step renovation plans with customised recommendations for individual buildings combined with a log of building-related information.

iBroad will analyse relevant examples of renovation roadmaps in Germany, France and Flanders, and identify best practices to account for different national conditions. The iBroad innovative concept and tools will then be tested in Bulgaria, Poland, Portugal and Germany.

Stakeholder engagement will be sought from the start at national (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Sweden) and EU levels.

EU and China Outline Roadmap for Energy Co-operation

On 2 June, the EU and China held their 19^th bilateral summit where both countries reaffirmed their commitment to tackle climate change and support of the Paris Agreement.

At the meeting both countries signed a 2017-2018 work plan of the technical implementation of the EU-China Roadmap on Energy Cooperation. By signing the roadmap, both countries have demonstrated their commitment to tackling common energy and climate issues, including security of energy supply, energy infrastructure and market transparency.

For energy efficiency, the roadmap will create a mutual understanding of energy efficiency policy development with the aim that both sides have a thorough knowledge of the other side’s policy work in the field of energy efficiency, and how this policy is development and enacted.

Further information can be found here.

Spotlight on RenoWiki

This month our favourite initiative in the RenoWiki is NZEBR which promotes the implementation and smart integration of Nearly Zero Energy Building Renovation (NZEBR) measures and the deployment of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the European renovation market.

Successful cases will be analysed to identify the technical barriers to smart integration of Nearly Zero Energy Building Renovation (NZEBR) measures and the deployment of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the European renovation market

National News

France

France Pledges to Increase Climate Action Committments

France has vowed to go beyond its commitments under the Paris Agreement and will launch a new initiative aimed at attracting climate change expertise from around the world.

In the next few weeks, an extensive list of policy actions will be issued, and it is expected that this will include initiatives on a carbon floor price, climate finance and increased development of renewable energy technologies.

A website will shortly be launched aimed at attracting global climate change experts and businesses that specialise in climate-related innovations to France.

Sweden

Sweden to Reach Net Zero Emissions by 2045

On 17 June, Sweden demonstrated their commitment to tackling climate change by pledging to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045 in an ambitious move to tackle climate change.

Sweden’s parliament voted 254 to 41 to adopt the Climate Act, with all parties supporting the move except the far-right Swedish Democrats.

The Climate Act requires government to present a climate report every year in its budget bill and to draw up a climate policy action plan every four years outlining how its climate goals will be achieved

United Kingdom
British Standards for Circular Economy Launched

BSI, the business standards company, has launched a new standard for the circular economy, BS 8001: 2017: Framework for implementing the principles of the circular economy in organizations – guide. This standard outlines what the circular economy is and how an organisation can transition to a circular approach in their day-to-day operations.

The standard focuses on the practical implementation of the six principles of the circular economy – innovation; stewardship; collaboration; value optimizations; transparency; and “systems thinking” . The standard provides a step-by-step guide on how an organization can navigate through the various stages of implementation of these principles.

Germany 
Germany to Offer Tax Incentives to Homeowners Installing Energy Savings Measures

German homeowners who install energy-saving insulation in their homes will be granted tax concessions according to recent reports in German media.

According to reports, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has promised to introduce tax incentives for the installation of insulation in residential properties to help tackle the “low hanging fruit” in the reduction of CO2 emissions.

It is anticipated that the measures will be introduced shortly after the federal elections in September 2017.

Norway
Norway Set to Ban Use of Gas to Heat Buildings

Norway is set to become the first country in the world to ban the use of gas to heat buildings. Norway, the largest producer of oil and natural gas outside the Middle East, will stop the use of both oil and paraffin to warm buildings from 2020 onwards.

Norway has advised its citizens to research alternatives to oil such as heat pumps, hydroelectricity, and stoves that burn wood chips. It is anticipated that the legislation will be widened to include restrictions on using natural gas to heat buildings post 2020.