Dublin, 12th March 2024: A new European law could dramatically reduce the carbon footprint of Ireland’s buildings, the Irish Green Building Council (IGBC) said today, welcoming the European Parliament’s final approval of the new Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD).
For the first time, the directive will require member states to regulate the embodied carbon of buildings. Embodied carbon is the carbon associated with the construction, maintenance, and demolition of buildings, including the extraction, processing and transporting of building materials. To date, building regulations in Ireland have only covered operational carbon – that is, the emissions associated with heating, cooling and lighting our buildings.
“The new EPBD represents a step change in Europe’s ambitions to decarbonise its building stock,” said IGBC CEO Pat Barry. “For the first time, we will have to measure and limit the embodied carbon in the construction of our buildings. Ireland’s built environment is responsible for 37% of national carbon emissions, of which 23% is operational carbon and 14% is embodied carbon. But until now embodied carbon has been the elephant in the room of our built environment emissions, left unregulated.”
Under the new rules, member states must calculate and disclose whole life cycle carbon emissions that is, embodied plus operational carbon – for all new buildings from 2030. They will also have to set whole life carbon targets for buildings from the same date, and progressively lower these over time.
“This directive gives Ireland a unique opportunity to lead on whole life carbon,” Mr Barry added. “A national methodology to measure whole life carbon emissions has already been developed, with considerable work already done on establishing national baselines. Given the scale of building proposed in Ireland over the coming years, it is imperative limits are introduced here sooner than the directive requires – by 2028 at the latest if we are to meet our climate targets.”
The new EPBD also stipulates that from 2030, all new buildings must be Zero Emission Buildings (ZEBs), which must not produce any emissions on site and must be run on a very small amount of energy, such as renewables or district heating where feasible. The directive aims to kick-start a renovation wave across the continent too, requiring member states to provide finance and support for deep renovation, and to deliver a “zero emissions building stock” by 2050.
“The new EPBD can help to kick-start the renovation wave that is urgently needed to decarbonise Ireland’s building stock,” said Mr Barry. “No matter how good our new buildings are, we will never meet our climate goals unless we dramatically increase our rate of energy retrofit to tackle emissions from existing buildings. This is also a great opportunity to improve people’s health and wellbeing by tackling fuel poverty, improving indoor air quality, and making our buildings warmer and more comfortable.”
Under the directive, member states must establish national renovation plans and introduce renovation passports – tailored roadmaps that allow building owners to undertake deep renovations step-by-step, over time. New Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS) will require member states to gradually improve the energy efficiency of existing buildings, and there is a requirement to protect tenants against the risk of eviction following a retrofit, too.
Other measures include a solar mandate that aims to dramatically increase the number of buildings that produce solar power, the phasing out of fossil fuel boilers by 2040, and greater focus on indoor environmental quality in buildings.
The new EPBD is one of the key laws in the EU’s “Fit for 55” package of legislation, which aims to cut the Union’s carbon emission by 55% by 2030, as part of the European Green Deal.
Commenting on the new directive, Irish Green Building Council Chairperson Ali Grehan said: “Half a million homes will be built in Ireland up to 2040, and at the same time we need to dramatically scale up the pace of renovation. With its focus on whole life carbon and deep renovation, the new EPBD can set us on a path towards a net zero built environment, and towards turning the many older, colder, and derelict buildings in our towns and cities into warm, comfortable and sustainable homes.”
Following approval by the European Parliament, the directive will now go back to the European Council for formal adoption in the next two months.
