Commission proposes Energy Performance of Buildings Directive with mandatory adaptation provisions

A proposal for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive adopted by the European Commission in December 2021 includes several provisions on adaptation and climate resilience.

Following the Renovation Wave Strategy of October 2020, which aims to at least double the annual energy renovation rate by 2030, the European Commission adopted in December 2021 a proposal for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. It includes several provisions on adaptation and climate resilience, notably:

• requirements for addressing climate resilience in renovation and new buildings (Articles 7 and 8)
• Building Renovation Passports can include the adaptive capacity of buildings (Article 10)
• Energy Performance Certificates can include information on climate resilience (Article 16)
• Member States must address resilience in their information and guidance materials e.g. for construction workers (Article 26)
• methods for identifying cost-optimal levels of energy performance must take future climatic conditions into account (Annex VII)
• climate resilience can be used as indicator for overviews of implemented policies in National Building Renovation Plans;

More background information and the text of the proposed new Directive can be found on the Commission website.