Each Member State shall establish a national building renovation plan to ensure the renovation of the national stock of residential and non-residential buildings, both public and private, into a highly energy-efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050, with the objective of transforming existing buildings into zero-emission buildings (Art. 3). To this end, regional and local governments must ensure that their building stock complies with the requirements and undertake all necessary measures. Implementing projects that improve the energy performance of public buildings can stimulate the market for energy efficiency improvements across the entire building stock.

Article 3 outlines in detail what a national building renovation plan shall include. For example, it should provide an overview of the national building stock for different building types, including their share in the national building stock, construction periods, and climatic zones. It should also include a roadmap with nationally established targets and measurable progress indicators, such as the reduction of the number of people affected by energy poverty, an overview of implemented and planned policies and measures supporting the roadmap's implementation, and an outline of the investment needs, financing sources, and measures for the national building renovation plan. Each Member State shall carry out a public consultation on its draft national building renovation plan prior to submitting it to the Commission. This consultation shall involve local and regional authorities and other socio-economic partners, including civil society and bodies working with vulnerable households.

The Directive sets requirements for a common general framework for a methodology for calculating the integrated energy performance of buildings and building units (Art. 4, Annex I). This methodology shall be adopted at the national or regional level. The Commission shall issue guidance for calculating the energy performance of transparent building elements that form part of the building envelope and considering ambient energy.

The Directive also requires EU countries to ensure that minimum energy performance requirements for buildings or building units are set to achieve at least cost-optimal levels and, where relevant, more stringent reference values such as nearly zero-energy building requirements and zero-emission buildings requirements (Paragraph 1, Art. 5). Member States may adapt these requirements for buildings officially protected at national, regional, or local levels as part of a designated environment or due to their special architectural or historical merit.

New buildings must be zero-emission by 2030 (2028 for public buildings), and the life-cycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) must be calculated for large new buildings from 2028 and for all new buildings by 2030 (Art. 7). The Directive mandates that when buildings undergo major renovation, the energy performance of the building or the renovated part must be upgraded to meet minimum energy performance requirements in accordance with Article 5 (Art. 8). Member States must establish minimum energy performance standards for non-residential buildings and trajectories for the progressive renovation of the residential building stock (Art. 9).

The Directive covers other important topics, including the introduction of renovation passports (Art. 12), installation of infrastructure for sustainable mobility (Art. 14), one-stop shops for technical assistance on the energy performance of buildings (Art. 18), and energy performance certificates (Art. 19).

Member States shall provide appropriate financing, support measures, and other instruments to address market barriers and deliver the necessary investments identified in their national building renovation plan to transform their building stock into zero-emission buildings by 2050 (Art. 17). Furthermore, Member States shall inform building owners and tenants, as well as relevant market actors such as local and regional authorities and energy communities, about the different methods and practices to enhance energy performance (Art. 29). They shall also support training for local and regional authorities, renewable energy communities, and other relevant actors, such as citizen-led renovation initiatives, to promote the Directive's objectives (Art. 29).

More information about the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive can be found here: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/energy-performance-buildings-directive_en.

The 2018 report prepared by the Concerted Action EPBD (CA EPBD) ‘Implementing the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) - Country reports’ provides a compilation of 34 Country (or region). Reports on the status of implementation of the previous EPBD (Directive 2010/31/EU) in 2016/2017: https://epbd-ca.eu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/CA-EPBD-2018-BOOK-VOLUME-I.pdf.

The developed material is envisioned to provide both an insight on the developments at the individual country/region level, as well as an EU overview, lessons learned and analytics on the development of policies related to the energy performance of buildings across Europe.

• Date of document: 24/04/2024
• Date of effect: 28/05/2024; Entry into force: Date pub. +20; See Art 37
• Date of effect: 30/05/2026; Partial application; See Art 37
• Date of signature: 24/04/2024
• Deadline: 31/12/2028; See Art 28
• Date of transposition: 01/01/2025; See Art 35.1
• Date of transposition: 29/05/2026; See Art 35.1
• Date of end of validity: No end date