Europe must take the fastest and most cost-effective route towards a carbon-neutral EU, write Adrian Joyce and Julie Kjestrup. And that means starting where the potential is biggest: buildings.
As the European Green Deal takes shape, it bears repeating that the state of EU buildings holds the potential to make or break whatever energy, emissions and environmental targets are set in the coming months, writes Adrian Joyce.
Most European countries have significant energy poverty problems and are unable to keep their citizens warm during winter. In fact, that applies as much to cooling as to heating, writes Adrian Joyce.
The European Commission will need clarity, nerve and vision to chart a decarbonisation path to 2050 that addresses the nearly 40% of Europe’s emissions that currently come from buildings, writes Adrian Joyce.
The agreements on the various parts of the EU clean energy package were hard fought, but their signing marks the beginning of the battle to implement them, as much as it does the end of the struggle to agree them, argues Adrian Joyce.
What do Croatia’s football team and its energy efficiency programmes have in common? Experience, skill, tenacity and an inspiring amount of success, writes Adrian Joyce.
There is a simple truth about EU climate policy: If it does not put energy efficiency first, it will not meet its objectives cost-effectively. And if it does not try to do that, it may not meet them at all, writes Adrian Joyce.
The EU’s next long-term budget for 2021-2027 offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate the tangible benefits that EU policies and funding can deliver to citizens on the ground, argues Adrian Joyce.
The multiple benefits of building renovation programmes include known advantages in terms of reduced energy bills and job creation. But less is known about other benefits like avoided healthcare costs, and even higher exam success rates for students, writes Adrian Joyce.
While President Trump is grabbing world headlines by publicly trashing the Paris climate agreement, EU member states are also trying to sabotage this deal by watering down measures in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), writes Adrian Joyce.
For something that blights the lives of between 50 and 125 million European citizens it is strange to discover that there is no EU-wide definition of 'energy poverty', writes Adrian Joyce.
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