Brussels, 12 March – The European associations ARGE, European Aluminium, EPPA, ES-SO, EuroWindoor and Glass for Europe welcome the positive plenary vote in the European Parliament on the revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Today’s adoption represents an important step towards the final adoption of the revised text as it confirms the European Parliament’s commitment to accelerate ambitious renovations towards a zero-emission building stock by 2050.
The European Window Stakeholders support the strengthened focus of the EPBD on renovation, setting a stronger framework for energy performance requirements for new and existing buildings, pushing Member States to prioritise energy renovations. While the European Window Stakeholders have advocated for more ambitious Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) for residential and non-residential buildings – the agreed framework represents a balanced compromise, which – if implemented correctly at Member State level – has the potential to start a European renovation wave among the worst performing buildings, improving their energy efficiency, CO2 emissions and indoor climate. It represents a first step in the right direction to reach its 2030 and 2050 climate targets but also improve the overall comfort of living conditions.
That’s why we also particularly support the broader focus of the EPBD, now allowing to better factor in Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in buildings, including improved temperature, humidity, indoor air quality, daylight and acoustics for the occupants’ well-being. Our members have many best practice examples to feed into the upcoming work.
Once adopted, strong and clear guidelines by the European Commission are cruial to ensure the correct implementation at national level. We look forward to closely supporting this upcoming implementation phase, to ensure the revised EPBD aligns with the industry’s commitment to sustainability, energy efficiency, and human-centric building practices. The upcoming work by the Commission on guidelines for the calculation of the energy performance of transparent building elements, which form part of the building envelope, will be particularly important as well as an updated methodology for defining cost-optimal levels for minimum energy performance requirements. The European Window Stakeholders are ready to support this work, providing data and industry experience, both at EU and national level and via the Concerted Action EPBD process.
Press Contact:
Miriam Weppler
EuroWindoor General Secretariat
Walter-Kolb-Str. 1-7
60594 Frankfurt / Germany
Phone: +49 (69) 95 50 54 – 36
Fax: +49 (69) 95 50 54 – 11
Email: GS@EuroWindoor.eu