Renovate Europe is a political communication campaign which aims to reduce the energy demand of the EU building stock by 80% by 2050 through ambitious legislation and renovation programmes. With this goal in mind, on Thursday 27 October 2022 was held the annual Renovate Europe Day.
After the last online edition, REDay2022 came back this year at the European Parliament in Brussels with a high-level conference entitled “Eyes on the Horizon: Renovating our Buildings to REPower the EU”. This was a valuable opportunity to listen to inspiring speeches and insights on building renovation as a solution to tackle the climate and energy crisis.
The opening session hosted a message from Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, who insisted on how building renovation is important not only in making Europe less energy-dependent but also in reducing overall emissions. Indeed, in Europe, buildings are responsible for over 1 in 3 carbon dioxide molecules released into the atmosphere. Last but not least, President von der Leyen reminded how building renovation is strongly connected to the pursuit of social justice objectives: as a matter of fact, improving energy performances of social housing can help many vulnerable families fight energy poverty and bad living conditions.
The whole day was thus divided into a series of meetings focusing on different aspects related to building renovation, with keynote speakers including MEP Ciarán Ciuffe and BPIE Executive Director Oliver Rapf.
The first session focused on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), a central tool for supporting the REPowerEU plan and decarbonisation targets. During the debate, the possible revision of the directive was discussed, and it emerged that not only it is necessary to model design in the light of investment capacities, but also to accelerate innovation in the renovation supply chain, to devise an effective system of sanctions, and to intervene upstream on all buildings with the worst energy performance.
In the second session, the debate shifted to the financial aspects of the so-called renovation wave and the important role of the European Investment Bank (EIB), as a fundamental investor in the green transition.
Finally, a speech by Positive Money Europe – a non-profit organisation in the field of circular economy – focused on the usefulness of loans in the renovation campaign, launching the EU Restructuring Loan Proposal.
Moverim participated with interest in this great opportunity for in-depth speeches and networking, as it is also a partner of e-SAFE, a Horizon 2020 project focused on the efficiency and renovation of non-historic buildings.
This edition of Renovate Europe Day succeeded in creating a positive and stimulating environment of discussion, where experts in the field of building renovation, researchers and financial practitioners could gather and share opinions and criticisms. It emerged how urgent it is to act with a multidisciplinary approach, by implementing building renovation following both climate and social objectives.
For more information on the event and its future developments, click here!
