About: energy efficiency in buildings Archives

The European Parliament’s energy committee today (10 November) rejected a push by MEPs to increase the EU’s 2030 climate and energy targets and to make them legally binding.

Up to 84% of the British public would like to see subsidies given to programmes that reduce energy waste, according to a new poll by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

The European Commission initiative, to be launched next year, will make it easier for smaller energy efficiency projects, such as building renovations, to get EU funding.

EXCLUSIVE / Renovating the European Union’s building stock for energy efficiency will save €80 to €153 billion of investment costs into the bloc’s power system by 2050, new research obtained by EURACTIV has found.

Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete yesterday (14 October) told representatives of Europe’s cities and regions to focus their climate change efforts on energy efficiency and especially the renovation of buildings.

Regional leaders have lashed out at the British government after the second green business to collapse in as many days blamed Conservative cuts to renewable energy subsidies.

Energy efficiency measures are increasingly on the frontline of war-torn Ukraine’s fight to lessen its dependence on Russian gas, after the crisis that led to the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea.

EXCLUSIVE / The European Commission is considering whether to relax VAT rules for energy efficiency in buildings, after EU judges ruled a British lower rate for materials such as insulation and solar panels illegal.

European Union rules requiring higher energy efficiency standards will apply to more public buildings from today but campaigners warned they risk being ignored unless they are backed up by a strong oversight system.

EXCLUSIVE / Stricter EU energy efficiency and performance laws will be rolled out by the European Commission next year, and enforcement of existing regulation will be further stepped up, the bloc’s energy chief today (18 June) told EURACTIV.

European Union judges today (4 June) told the United Kingdom its lower rate of value-added tax (VAT) for home energy efficiency renovation is illegal.

National governments are failing to plan properly for energy efficiency savings in their own buildings, according to new analysis by a group of businesses, local authorities, trade unions and civil society organisations.

Socialist and Green members of the European Parliament face defeat in their efforts to ringfence up to €5 billion of Juncker Plan investor risk guarantees for energy efficiency projects.

SPECIAL REPORT / Private investment in energy-efficient buildings renovation must increase five-fold by 2030, according to a group set up by the European Commission and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Finance Initiative.

SPECIAL REPORT / EU leaders will discuss strengthening the enforcement of existing energy laws at their 19 March summit, after the European Commission signalled it would toughen its policing of efficiency rules by launching infringement procedures against recalcitrant EU member states.

SPECIAL REPORT / The European Union will not ring-fence funds from the Juncker plan to pay for renovation projects to boost the energy efficiency of buildings, the Commission Vice-President in charge of the €315 billion investment package told EURACTIV yesterday (9 March).

SPECIAL REPORT / Experts are divided on whether the European Commission's proposals to foster an Energy Union are strong enough to drive forward energy efficiency measures, and in particular the renovation of existing buildings

The French government has applied for funding from the European Commission's 315 billion euro investment plan to help launch its energy transition programme. EURACTIV France reports. 

SPECIAL REPORT: The European Union institutions' buildings policy in Brussels has been “unambitious” in terms of energy efficiency, according to the European Court of Auditors.

Ségolène Royale, the French Minister for Ecology and Energy, aspires to make every new publicly-subsidised building in the country 'energy positive'. The minister wants to include this initiative in the energy transition bill presented last June, EURACTIV France reports.

EXCLUSIVE / Further efforts are needed by member states to reach the EU's energy saving target of 20% by 2020, the European Commission said in a leaked draft communication obtained by EURACTIV. The Commission also watered down the target for 2030 considerably in the latest draft.

SPECIAL REPORT / Europe’s struggling bid to rein back energy wastage in the building sector could be boosted by a renovations directive implemented under a new Directorate-General for Resource Efficiency, says the sustainable energy think tank E3G. 

SPECIAL REPORT / The current system of certifying buildings according to their energy performance is beset by patchy enforcement, wildly-varying certificate costs, a laissez-faire attitude towards displaying information, and a lack of trained inspectors, according to the preliminary findings of a study by the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE).

SPECIAL REPORT / To maintain Europe’s emissions-cutting momentum, a 30% cut in energy usage is needed by 2030, rising to 35% if the EU wants to reap the benefits of energy security, jobs and growth, says a draft communication for the bloc’s energy efficiency review, seen by EURACTIV.