Op-ed: Procrastination is a prelude in a minor key
By Céline Carré, EuroACE Vice-President and Chair of the ‘Energy Efficiency Policy’ Work Group.
Today is 10th March 2020 and I should be excited about it. Today is the deadline for transposing the latest Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. It’s also the deadline for the EU countries to unveil their megaplans to renovate their buildings before 2050, the so-called Long-Term Renovation Strategies (LTRS).
But I am concerned that no one seems to be worried about the missing renovation strategies – strategies that, taken together, should bring 210 million buildings on track for our 2050 climate goals and take over 50 million people out of energy poverty. After saying “yes” to the EPBD in December 2017, our governments seem ready to accept that an average 1% energy renovation rate in Europe is good enough. Continuing this way would take us 100 years to meet our 2050 goals.
Yet I am still motivated and determined to make the EU Renovation Wave a success. If something is big, let’s make it really big, and treat it as such: the energy renovation of our buildings should be a priority, because 97% of them are not “Paris-proofed”, and because we spend 90% of our time in them.
