Driving renovations through policy

Le résumé fourni par la source

Climate change represents one of the most pressing and complex challenges of the 21st century. The continued rise in global temperatures, driven primarily by greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activities, together with increasing climate variability, poses substantial risks to ecosystems, economies, and public health (Zeng et al., 2025). Immediate, coordinated, and sustained action is essential to mitigate these impacts through the transition to renewable energy, the widespread implementation of energy-efficiency measures, and the adoption of sustainable development practices across all sectors of society. The buildings and construction sectors play a central role in this transition; together, they account for approximately 30% of global final energy consumption and 27% of energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions (United Nations Environment Programme, 2025). Energy demand associated with these sectors continues to grow as global floor area expands and reliance on energy-intensive appliances increases. Improving the performance of buildings is therefore indispensable for achieving climate neutrality. Decarbonising the buildings sector requires not only greater integration of renewable energy sources (RES) but also a fundamental redesign of energy systems at both the building and district levels. As electricity generation becomes increasingly low-carbon, the electrification of end-uses traditionally reliant on fossil fuels- particularly heating, cooling, and mobility- becomes a crucial strategy for economy-wide emissions reductions (IEA, 2022). This transformation is expected to reshape energy demand patterns, especially with the projected increase in electric vehicles (EVs) and heat pumps, both central to delivering clean and efficient building- and district-level services. Recognising this, the EC recommends a 90% reduction target in GHG emissions by 2040, with the buildings sector expected to deliver up to 92% of the required savings (Hesse & Braungardt, 2024). Yet national projections indicate that current policies are insufficient: existing measures would reduce building-related emissions by only 42% by 2030 and 53% by 2040, revealing a substantial gap between ambition and implementation. Key performance indicators- carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions reduction, energy savings, renewable energy uptake, and renovation rates- remain more than 40% below the required trajectories (Amorocho et al., 2024). To bridge this gap, the EU has adopted a comprehensive policy package: The “Renovation Wave” strategy (2020) (European Commission (EC), 2020a) aims to at least double annual energy renovation rates by 2030. Recent revisions of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in 2023 (European Commission (EC), 2023c) and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2024 (European Commission (EC), 2024), introduce more stringent performance requirements, strengthen minimum energy performance standards (MEPS), promote the phaseout of fossil-fuel boilers, and mandate that all new buildings achieve zero-emission status by 2030, with the existing building stock following by 2050. The following policy recommendations are designed to support the wide deployment and long-term sustainability of the renovation solutions developed and demonstrated within FORTESIE. They respond directly to the project’s objectives, which call for the formulation of clear, actionable messages for European, national, and regional/ local policymakers, as well as for industry associations and civil-society organisations engaged in the building-renovation agenda. The purpose is to translate the empirical evidence generated through the project’s pilots, together with cross-cutting insights from WP2-WP5 and the broader policy analysis presented in Section 2 into recommendations that can inform legislative processes, guide implementation efforts, and strengthen the enabling conditions for ESIE-oriented renovation services across Europe. Recommendations are structured according to each governance level of interest, reflecting the differentiated roles and responsibilities of key policy actors. At the EU level, they aim to support the evolution and effective implementation of core legislative frameworks such as EPBD (European Commission (EC), 2024), EED (European Commission (EC), 2023c), and RED (European Commission (EC), 2023b) regulations, as well as related financial and digital initiatives, including the “EU Taxonomy” (European Commission (EC), 2020b), the CEEAG (European Commission (EC), 2022), the “InvestEU” programme, and the emerging Energy Data Space. At the national level, they address the practical challenges of policy transposition, regulatory coordination, financing design, and administrative capacity, which are critical to accelerating renovation activity at scale. At the regional and local levels, the recommendations highlight the role of municipalities, energy agencies, and public building owners as frontline implementers and multipliers of innovative renovation approaches. In parallel, selected recommendations are directed at industry stakeholders and other relevant market actors, whose engagement, innovation capacity, and service offerings are essential to the deployment of integrated, digital, and performance-based renovation services. The framework underpinning these recommendations is grounded in the lessons learnt across the seven FORTESIE pilot sites, where real-life operating conditions exposed technical, organisational, financial, and behavioural barriers that remain insufficiently addressed in current policy settings. These empirical findings are complemented by the identification of systemic gaps in existing technological solutions, digital standards, and renovation market structures. By combining pilot-level evidence with a broader assessment of policy and market conditions, the recommendations seek not only to remove existing obstacles but also to actively support the emergence of new business models, strengthen Europe’s renovation value chain, and enable the uptake of innovative ESIE-based services. Overall, this brief provides the bridge between FORTESIE’s empirical insights and the policy actions required to unlock large-scale, performance-driven renovation across Europe. The recommendations that follow are therefore intended as guidance for policymakers shaping the frameworks within which renovation actors operate, ensuring that the knowledge generated in FORTESIE contributes meaningfully to Europe’s climate, energy, and social objectives.

Ce résumé expose les affirmations des auteurs. BNTIC ne l’interprète pas comme une validation indépendante des résultats.