EU Commission publishes draft revisions to the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive

As one of its commitments under the European Green Deal in 2020, the EU Commission announced its intention to revise the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2010/31/EU ("EPBD"). In addition to the EU Green Deal, reference to the EPBD revision appeared in the Commission's more targeted "Renovation Wave" communication of 14 October 2020, which puts in place a strategy with the aims of:

• at least doubling overall energy renovation rate across the EU; and
• ensuring those energy renovations that do take place are "deep renovations", meaning renovations which reduce energy consumption of a building by at least 60%.

A draft legislative instrument proposing amends to the EPBD was published on 15 December 2021, setting out a number of revisions to the text of the existing EPBD. This blog post does not attempt to cover all proposed amendments to the EPBD, however we have opted to focus on those with some of the broadest potential impacts, namely the setting of new obligations around minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) and Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs). These are discussed in more detail below.

Minimum energy performance standards

The requirements on Member States to prepare and implement MEPS is strengthened. The current exemption that allows Member States not to set MEPS "which are not cost-effective over the estimated economic lifecycle" is to be removed from the legislation.

Draft Article 7 requires that all new buildings be "zero-emission buildings" (defined below) by 1 Jan 2030. Until then, all new buildings must be at least "nearly zero-energy buildings", and must meet the MEPS requirements set down in Article 5.

"Zero-emission building" is a new concept under the proposed amendments, defined as:

A building with a very high energy performance, as determined in accordance with Annex I, where the very low amount of energy still required is fully covered by energy from renewable sources generated on-site, from a renewable energy community within the meaning of Directive (EU) 2018/2001 or from a district heating and cooling system, in accordance with the requirements set out in Annex III.

Annex I sets down the framework for the calculation of the energy performance of buildings, and Annex III provides "requirements for zero-emission buildings", including a table setting out the maximum thresholds for total annual primary energy use of a new zero-emission building.

"Nearly zero-energy building" is not a new concept, but the draft revisions to the EPBD propose some amendments to it. Draft Article 2(3) defines it as (new/amended text in bold):

A building with a very high energy performance, as determined in accordance with Annex I, which cannot be lower than the 2023 cost-optimal level reported by Member States in accordance with Article 6(2) and where the nearly zero or very low amount of energy required should be is covered to a very significant extent by energy from renewable sources, including energy from renewable sources produced on-site or nearby.

Proposed new Article 9 sets specific deliverables that Member States must meet through the implementation of MEPS. This is an entirely new provision which links MEPS with standards set under Energy Performance Certificates, and requires Member States to ensure (among other things) that non-residential buildings and building units, other than those owned by public bodies, achieve at the latest:

• after 1 January 2027, at least energy performance class F; and
• after 1 January 2030, at least energy performance class E;
• Once these thresholds are met, Article 9 then requires Member States to go on to establish specific timelines to achieve higher energy performance classes by 2040 and 2050, in line with the pathway for transforming the national building stock into zero-emission buildings.

Energy Performance Certificates

The proposed amendments also make a number of changes to the EPC obligations. These include the following:

• Article 7(2) requires that a building's life-cycle Global Warming Potential is calculated in accordance with Annex III and disclosed through the EPC:
1. as of 1 January 2027, for all new buildings with a useful floor area larger than 2000 square meters; and
2. as of 1 January 2030, for all new buildings.
• Article 16(1) proposes additional information that the EPC must include, such as a numeric indicator of primary energy use, as well as information about MEPS, nearly zero-energy building and zero-emission building requirements.
• Article 16(2) establishes a new template EPCs must comply with by no later than 21 December 2025.
• Article 16(10) states that an EPC will now only be valid for 5 years (as opposed to the current 10) for buildings classes below A, B or C.
• Finally, Article 19 requires Member States to set up a national database which allows data to be gathered on the energy performance of the buildings, including EPCs, which will be at least partly publicly accessible.

Timing

The draft legislation is now open for feedback for 8 weeks (until 10 March 2022), with feedback about to be submitted here.

Once the submission period is closed, a final version of the text is likely to follow in the subsequent 12-24 months.