\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe agreement will enable negotiations to be initiated with the European Parliament. Once a consensus is reached between the Council and the Parliament, the final text will be formally adopted by both institutions.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nJozef S\u00edkela, Czech Minister of Industry and Trade, outlined the importance of energy-efficient buildings, stating: \u201cThe building sector is crucial for achieving the EU\u2019s energy and climate objectives for 2030 and 2050. But more than that, the agreement reached will help citizens make substantial energy savings. Better and more energy-efficient buildings will improve citizens’ quality of life, while bringing down their energy bills and alleviating energy poverty.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe Council\u2019s agreements on energy-efficient buildings<\/h3>\n
In regard to new buildings, the Council agreed that from 2028, new buildings owned by public bodies would be zero-emission buildings, and from 2030, all new buildings would be zero-emission buildings.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThere may be some exceptions for certain buildings, such as historical buildings, places of worship, and buildings used for defence purposes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMember States agreed to introduce minimum energy performance standards for existing buildings. These would correspond to the maximum amount of primary energy that buildings can use per metre squared annually. By introducing these standards, the Council hopes to initiate renovations and gradually phase-out worst-performing buildings to improve the national building stock.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nFor existing non-residential buildings, Member States agreed to establish maximum energy performance thresholds, based on primary energy use. A first threshold would cut off below the primary energy use of 15% of the worst-performing non-residential buildings in a Member State, and a second threshold would be set below 25%. It was agreed that non-residential buildings should be brought below the 15% threshold by 2030 and below the 25% threshold by 2034.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nThe thresholds would be decided based on the energy use of the national building stock on 1 January 2020, and may be differentiated between different building categories.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMember States agreed that for existing residential buildings, minimum energy performance standards based on a national trajectory should be set. These will be in line with the progressive renovation of their building stock into a zero-emission building stock by 2050, as outlined in their national building renovation plans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMonitoring energy performance<\/h3>\n
Between 2025 and 2050, the national trajectory of energy performance standards would correspond to a decrease in the average primary energy use in the whole residential building stock. This will ensure that the primary energy use of the whole residential building stock is at least equivalent to the D energy performance class level by 2033, and by 2040, a nationally determined value obtained from a gradual decrease of the average primary energy use from 2033 to 2050. This will be in line with the conversion of the residential building stock into a zero-emission building stock.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMember States agreed to add a new category \u2018A<\/span>0<\/span>\u2019 to the energy performance certificates that would be consistent with zero-emission buildings. Another new category, \u2018A+,\u2019 could also be added to correspond to zero-emissions, energy-efficient buildings that contribute on-site renewable energy to the energy grid.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nCurrently, the energy performance certification for buildings set by the directive ranks buildings on a scale from A (best performing) to G (worst performing) based on their energy performance.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n