Climate protection in the building sector- Regulatory baseline

In 2015, 190-plus countries and the European Union (EU) signed the Paris Agreement pledging to slow down climate change and mitigate its impacts. The long-term goal agreed on by the signatories was to limit global warming to well below 2°C, and if possible, even 1.5°C, above pre-industrial levels.

In addition, the EU’s Green Deal presented in 2019, sets the Union the legally binding goal of climate-neutrality by 2050. Europe is, thus, to become the first climate-neutral continent.

One of the objectives of the Green Deal is a mandatory refurbishment strategy for existing building stock to drive cost-efficient refurbishment of existing structures as near zero-energy buildings (NZEB) to achieve energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050.

In November 2020, Germany introduced the Buildings Energy Act (Gebäudeenergiengesetz, GEG), which regulates energy performance requirements and the use of renewable energies for heating and cooling buildings and is aimed at promoting efficient and sustainable building stock. The GEG creates a uniform and coordinated body of legislation governing the energy efficiency of buildings. It merges the Energy Conservation Act (Energieeinsparungsgesetz, EnEG), the Energy Saving Ordinance (Energieeinsparverordnung, EnEV) and the Act on the Promotion of Renewable Energies in the Heat Sector (EEWärmeG) in a single act with the higher-level goal of establishing a more straightforward regulatory framework, particularly for NZEB standards.

To read more, download white paper- climate protection in the building sector