Open letter to EU Housing Ministers: only deep energy renovation will help the most vulnerable

Ahead of their meeting in Nice on 8 March 2022 on affordable and sustainable housing, the Renovate Europe Campaign wrote to the Housing Ministers of the EU Member States, copying the Energy Ministers: the truly sustainable answer, which benefits all citizens and especially the growing number of vulnerable households, is to cut energy demand through deep energy renovation.

Housing represents about 75% of the built area of the EU building stock, but most households only renovate once every 30 years, which leaves only one renovation cycle before 2050. Renovation programmes must therefore be scaled up to the full housing stock and always deliver deep renovation: quantity and quality both matter, and with technologies readily available, the energy demand of existing housing can be cut by 80% or more.