ECOS | Environmental Coalition on Standards

04 October 2022

Ambitious Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS): A no regret option

By Michael Neaves

ECOS and 15 other leading industry players, NGOs, think tanks and investors are calling Members of the European Parliament to adopt ambitious Minimum Energy Performance Standards in the EPBD recast.

The twin geopolitical and energy crises have thrown into sharp relief the high combined costs of Europe’s energy dependency and poor building energy performance. Buildings account for 40% of our energy consumption, most of which is used to keep us warm and energy renovations are the only solution to durably shelter citizens and businesses from price hikes.

Financial incentives for renovations must be backed by effective regulations. Solely relying on voluntary schemes has not worked so far, with only 1% of EU buildings undergoing energy renovations each year, and an annual rate of deep renovations only 0.2% in the EU.

Leading industry players, NGOs, think tanks and investors are thus calling Members of the European Parliament to adopt ambitious Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) in the EPBD recast. MEPS are the main tool addressing the pressing issues of energy poverty, energy security and decarbonisation in the revised text and are critical for both planning purposes and for execution.

ECOS is co-funded by the European Commission and EFTA Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EISMEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

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