Lighting a fire under Europe’s green buildings policies: John Lorinc

In a survey released last fall, Savills, a British real estate services firm, warned that Europe could soon see a glut of fallow office buildings, many of them rendered undesirable by investors, lenders and tenants because they failed to meet new efficiency thresholds embedded in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a European Union climate policy that sets out minimum standards.

The EPBD dates to 2010 and has been updated several times in the European Parliament, including in late 2021. An even more ambitious set of net-zero standards was proposed in March 2023, all in the service of slashing emissions by 55% by 2030. A key piece of the new policy turned on establishing “minimum energy performance standards” and timelines for buildings across the EU, as well as targets that push upgrades in the least efficient structures.