National Dialogue Event – The European Green Deal and German EPBD implementation

On 22 January 2020, EuroACE and DENEFF, the German Business Initiative for Energy Efficiency, held a National Dialogue Event in the Bundestag in Berlin on ‘The European Green Deal and German EPBD Implementation’. A wide range of stakeholders working on energy efficiency policy and delivery discussed what the European Green Deal would mean for the energy performance of the German building stock, how effective existing policies were, and how Germany was implementing the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).

Participants shared a sense that Germany needed to regain its standing as a leader in climate and energy efficiency policies. Recent policy developments had brought new incentives for climate protection, but the measures fell short of what was needed to reach federal and EU targets. The upcoming German Council presidency, at the same time as COP26 in Glasgow, was an opportunity for renewed German ambition.

Programme:

• The Green Deal and stakeholder engagement in EPBD implementation – Pieter de Pous (E3G), Céline Carré (Saint-Gobain), Henning Ellermann (DENEFF) and Volker Weinmann (Daikin Germany)
• Tools for effective implementation: financing, ambition and quality assurance – Murray Birt (DWS), Prof. Andreas Holm (FIW Munich), Sune Tobias Grollov (VELUX) and Dr. Thomas Engelke (vzbv, Federation of German Consumer Organisations)

Adrian Joyce, Secretary General of EuroACE, moderated both sessions.

In a joint statement, EuroACE and DENEFF summed up the participants’ ideas to get Germany back on track as a leader in energy efficiency:

• Launch a stakeholder consultation on the German Long-Term Renovation Strategy before the 10 March 2020 deadline, and turn existing stakeholder platforms into real dialogues
• Take a strategic and holistic approach to the building sector’s 2050 decarbonisation targets, based on the role of energy efficiency in integrating renewables, helping other sectors decarbonise and improving people’s health and well-being
• Build a segment-based roadmap for energy efficient renovation, with incentives and binding regulatory elements over time, to give investors long-term confidence
• Use the planned reform of incentive programmes (BEG) to create attractive deep renovation incentives for all building owners, including landlords, and increasingly reward post-renovation performance
• Implement the relevant EU directives ambitiously and position Germany as a champion of the Green Deal

Read also our op-ed Germany’s Leadership Opportunity, published a month later.