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Owning, developing, and managing buildings has become more complicated as regulations have proliferated throughout Europe to mitigate climate change.
High energy prices, together with the desire for greater European energy security, have added pressure to the timetable for achieving enhanced levels of energy efficiency and more renewable generation.
The EU’s Fit-for-55 legislative package, augmented by the REPowerEU initiative, is driving a regulatory programme to deliver, amongst other things, more energy generation, increased energy storage, and mandatory EV charging infrastructure in both new and existing buildings.
Of the EU directives and regulations that underpin Fit-for-55, and ultimately the European Green Deal, those listed in our table are particularly relevant for the commercial and residential buildings sector. These directives are complex, so visit our Insights page to find out more.
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive Seeks better energy performance from new and renovated buildings. |
Requires mandatory home and workplace charging. |
Energy Efficiency Directive
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Requires energy saving from buildings and data centres. |
| Renewable Energy Directive Sees buildings and electric vehicles as flexibility assets serving the future grid’s capacity needs. The latest iteration is RED III. |
Requires flexible energy systems incorporating renewables and smart electric vehicle charging. |
Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Regulation *Replaces the Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Directive (AFID). |
Requires smart charging capabilities of all publicly accessible charging stations. |
ZEBs (zero-emission buildings) will replace NZEBs (nearly zero-energy buildings) as part of the revised EPBD. Note the change from ‘nearly zero-energy’ to ‘zero-emission’ which is a much more stringent requirement. The revision will have a big impact on commercial, residential, and mixed-use buildings. It will mean that the EU Nearly Zero-Energy Strategy, which has been in place for more than a decade, will be replaced by the ZEB requirement for all new public buildings from 1 January 2027, and all new buildings from 1 January 2030.
Part of the REPowerEU plan, the EU Solar Energy Strategy aims to bring online 320 GW of new solar photovoltaic capacity by 2025, which is more than twice the level in 2022, rising to 600 GW by 2030. The initiative will introduce obligatory solar installation on some buildings for use on-site. Another key plank of REPowerEU is the ambition to double the current deployment rate of heat pumps to deliver a cumulative 10 million units over the next five years. Developing and modernising district heating system will be part of this.
