Public Consultation: Mortgage Credit Directive
EuroACE responded to the European Commission’s public consultation on the review of the Mortgage Credit Directive (MCD).
Buildings consume 40% of primary energy in the EU and are responsible for about 36% of energy-related CO2 emissions. As existing buildings, and specifically residential buildings, make up a significant majority of the building stock, mortgage lenders have a key role to play to leverage private financing towards energy renovation and achieve a highly energy efficient building stock.
In our response, we called for:
- Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) to be included in the pre-contractual information provided by the creditor to the consumer, together with a renovation passport when available. This would make consumers aware of the current status and potential for improvement of a building, and give the necessary push to increase EPC coverage, which is still below 15% of the building stock
- Green mortgages offered at more favourable terms and conditions, with even better conditions for deep renovations that deliver high energy savings and therefore a lower default risk
- Green mortgages that do not create lock-in effects: as homes are unlikely to undergo another renovation for several decades, mortgages should not encourage the achievement of low energy savings
- A link with the EU Taxonomy, while revising upwards its current criteria for building renovation, which are not aligned with what is needed to reach our climate ambition
- Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), which would allow consumers and lenders to benchmark a property against current and future requirements and would tangibly boost demand for green mortgages
- Staff of creditors and credit intermediaries to be trained on rising energy costs, EPCs and Building Renovation Passports, so that they can inform consumers of the impact of improving the energy performance of their home
