The EPBD

The EPBD is the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive 2024/1275.

The EPBD aims to reduce both building energy consumption and related emissions, while guaranteeing proper indoor environmental quality (IEQ), with a view to achieving a zero-emission building stock by 2050. It is important to emphasise that “a view to” means that Member States will need to do their utmost to make their building stocks zero-emissions, however without it being a strict requirement.

The building stock

According to EPBD art. 2(2), a zero-emission building is a building with very high energy performance, requiring zero or a very low amount of energy, producing zero on-site carbon emissions from fossil fuels, and producing zero or a very low amount of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to achieve a zero-emission building stock by 2050, “Member States shall ensure that new buildings are zero-emission buildings from:
a)    1 January 2028, new buildings owned by public authorities; and
b)    1 January 2030, all new buildings;” ¹

Additionally, “Member States shall ensure that the life cycle GWP is calculated … and disclosed in the energy performance certificate of the building:
a)    from 1 January 2028, for all new buildings with a useful floor area larger than 1000 m²;
b)    from 1 January 2030, for all new buildings.”

With regard to existing buildings, Member States shall define minimum energy performance standards so that all existing non-residential buildings are below:
a)    the 16% threshold from 2030, and
b)    the 26% threshold from 2033,
where the two thresholds will identify 16% and 26% of the highest-consuming buildings in the building stock as of 1 January 2020.

Member States shall ensure that the average primary energy use, expressed in kWh/(m²*y), of all existing residential buildings:
a)    decreases by at least 16% compared to 2020 by 2030;
b)    decreases by at least 20-22% compared to 2020 by 2035;
c)    by 2040, and every 5 years thereafter … progressively decreases … from 2030 to 2050, in line with the transformation of the residential building stock into a zero-emission building stock.

Member States shall ensure that at least 55% of the decrease … is achieved through the renovation of the 43% worst-performing residential buildings.

Indoor environmental quality (IEQ)

IEQ retains its importance, and indeed needs to go hand-in-hand with energy efficiency. The EPBD requires that “Member States shall address, in relation to new buildings (and to existing buildings undergoing major renovation), the issues of optimal indoor environmental quality, …”. Even though this requirement gives flexibility to Member States on how to address the issues of optimal IEQ, it is nonetheless a legal provision with beneficial consequences for healthy indoor environments.

Monitoring

According to article 13, from 31 December 2024, BACS² & monitoring systems, “where technically and economically feasible”³, will be required in all non-residential buildings, both new and existing, whose technical building systems, combined, have a rated output of more than 290 kW (this threshold corresponds to an area of 830 m² / 8,934 sq.ft⁴); the threshold will be lowered to 70 kW by 31 December 2029 (200 m² / 2,153 sq.ft). The BACS shall be capable of:
a)    continuously monitoring, logging, analysing and allowing for adjusting energy use;
b)    benchmarking the building’s energy efficiency, detecting losses in efficiency of technical building systems, and informing the person responsible for the facilities or technical building management about opportunities for energy efficiency improvement;
c)    allowing communication with connected technical building systems and other appliances inside the building, and being interoperable with technical building systems across different types of proprietary technologies, devices and manufacturers;
d)    by 29 May 2026 monitoring of indoor environmental quality (IEQ).

BACS & monitoring systems avoid on-site inspections (art. 23) of heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. In the absence of BACS or monitoring systems, inspections will be required every 5 years when the combined rated heat output is between 70 and 290 kW, and every 3 years when above 290 kW.
Similar provisions are proposed for new residential buildings and those undergoing major renovations⁵.

The link between the EPBD and the EPSR

The life-cycle GWP of the building represents a strong link between the EPBD and the ESPR.

All materials used for the construction of the building as well as the products and technical building systems determine the life-cycle GWP, cradle to grave, through their direct and indirect emissions, their carbon footprint, their energy efficiency, and their circular-economy aspects.

The importance of those pieces of information is enshrined in the requirements both for buildings and products:

• Buildings: energy performance certificates (EPCs, EPBD art. 19) are reconfirmed; in addition, all renovations must be reported in the newly introduced “Renovation passport” (EPBD art. 12), which is a sort of identity card for the building.
• Products: their energy, environmental, and use aspects must be reported in the newly defined Digital Product Passport (ESPR chapter III).

The ESPR

The Ecodesign legislation called “Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) 2024/1781“ came into force on 18 July 2024. In the EU Commission’s vision, the ESPR “will contribute to EU efforts to lead the way to a circular economy at the global level. It should be seen as a key instrument for achieving EU climate goals.”⁶ Additionally, the ESPR will likely decrease the costs associated with product usage, as implied by this factsheet⁷:

The ESPR regards all products already within the scope of the former Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC, as well as new ones, generically indicated as “… any physical good that is placed on the market or put into service, including components and intermediate products.”⁸ The first non-ErPs (non-Energy-related Products) within the scope of the regulation are: steel, iron, aluminium, textiles (garments and footwear), furniture (including mattresses), tyres, detergents, paints, lubricants, chemicals, ICT products and other electronics and ErPs needing to be revised or newly defined.

In addition to energy efficiency, the ESPR focuses both on environment-related aspects and on information requirements.

The environment-related aspects⁹ are: durability; reliability; reusability; upgradability; reparability; possibility of maintenance and refurbishment; presence of substances of concern; energy use or energy efficiency; resource use or resource efficiency; recycled content; possibility of remanufacturing and recycling; possibility of recovery of materials; environmental impact, including carbon and environmental footprint; expected generation of waste materials.

As regards information requirements¹⁰, information will be available for the proper installation, use, disassembly, recycling, and disposal at end-of-life. This will be accessible in at least one of the following ways: on the product itself; on the product’s packaging; in the product passport (DPP); on a label; in a user manual; or on a free access website or application.

Digital Product Passport (DPP)

The DPP¹¹ will be the mandatory information repository for placing products on the market, created and maintained by the economic operator that places the product on the market (manufacturer, producer, etc.) It will be accessible via a data carrier (e.g., QR code) linked to a unique product identifier (the product code).

All DPPs will be stored in the “Product passport registry” maintained by the Commission and accessible to competent national authorities and customs authorities for surveillance purposes.

Destruction of unsold consumer products¹²

In a circular economy, used products are repaired, upgraded, remanufactured, reused, disassembled and recycled, and, only as a last resort, disposed of:

In order to support the shift from the current linear economy (digging out raw materials → production → use → disposal) to a circular one, the ESPR obliges economic operators that discard products to disclose, as a minimum requirement and “on a freely accessible website or otherwise [made] publicly available, the number of unsold consumer products discarded per year, and the reasons for the discarding of products”¹³.

Additionally, the Commission may make it illegal for “economic operators to destroy unsold consumer products” in the case of “significant environmental impact”, with exceptions allowed, if duly regulated, for health, safety, or other reasons listed in art. 25(5). One example, already provided for by art. 25(1), is the destruction of unsold footwear, apparel and accessories: this will be prohibited from 19 July 2026 for large-sized enterprises, and from 19 July 2030 for medium-sized enterprises, whereas micro and small enterprises will be exempted from this prohibition¹⁴.

Conclusions

On one hand, the ESPR sets requirements at a product level; on the other, the EPBD sets requirements at a system (building) level. Given that materials and products are used for constructing and/or running a building, these two pieces of legislation close the circle regarding the sustainability of buildings.

Is there anything else? Yes. The sustainability of buildings and products at national and EU levels, which is managed by legislation, such as the Energy Efficiency Directive, the Renewable Energy Directive, the voluntary Code of Conduct for Energy Smart Appliances, and future legislation on the interoperability between power grids and electrical products.
 

References:

¹. EPBD art. 7.
². BACS = Building Automation and Control System.
³. Refer to sect. “2.3.4. Technical, economic and functional feasibility (Article 8(1), 14(4) and 15(4) of the EPBD)” of the COMMISSION RECOMMENDATION (EU) 2019/1019 of 7 June 2019 on building modernisation.
⁴. These area ranges are approximate and given as examples. They are calculated as follows:

• Assuming that 35 kW (120 kBTU/h) is the heating power needed to heat a 100-m² flat (1,076 sq.ft), 290 kW (990 kBTU/h) converts to around 830 m² (8,934 sq.ft).
• The same calculations for 70 kW (239 kBTU/h) yield 200 m² (2,153 sq.ft).

• (a) the total cost of the renovation relating to the building envelope or the technical building systems is higher than 25 % of the value of the building, excluding the value of the land upon which the building is situated; or
• (b) more than 25 % of the surface of the building envelope undergoes renovation.

Member States may choose to apply option (a) or (b).

⁶. See file “COM - Proposal for SPI - SWD Impact Assessment - Part 1 – 20220330.pdf” sect. 1.1, page 6.
⁷. See file “Sustainable_products_Factsheet”.
⁸. ESPR Art 1(2).
⁹. ESPR art. 5.
¹⁰. ESPR art. 7.
¹¹. EPRS ch. III
¹². “COM - Proposal for SPI - SWD Impact Assessment - Part 4 – 20220330.pdf”, Annex 12, Figure 2, page 470.
¹³. ESPR ch. IV
¹⁴. Refer to the “Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003 concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises”

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