Long-term renovation strategies

All EU countries must establish a long-term renovation strategy to support the renovation of their national building stock into a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050.

The requirement for EU countries to adopt a long-term renovation strategy is set out in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU), which was revised in 2018 (2018/844/EU). These strategies are part of EU countries’ integrated national energy and climate plans (NECPS).

The long-term renovation strategies must include an overview of the national building stock policies and actions to stimulate a cost-effective deep renovation of buildings and target the worst performing buildings, split-incentive dilemmas, market failures, energy poverty and public buildings. An overview of national initiatives to promote smart technologies and skills and education in the construction and energy efficiency sectors is also a key part of these strategies.

The strategies must also include a roadmap with measures and measurable progress indicators, as well as indicative milestones for 2030, 2040 and 2050. They also need to contain an estimate of the expected energy savings and wider benefits and the contribution of the renovation of buildings to the Union's energy efficiency target.

A solid financial component is key to underpin long-term renovation strategies, particularly through an effective use of public funding, aggregation and de-risking.

Building renovation plans

The Commission proposed in December 2021 to review the current framework within the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and suggests to strengthen the long-term renovation strategies towards 'Building renovation plans'. These national plans should be submitted every 5 years, following the submission of a draft plan, and should have clear and specific chapters, based on a common template. The plans will include national targets (instead of indicative milestones) in a more unified and comparable approach, an outline of the investment needs for their implementation and an overview of policies and measures.

Building renovation plans will be aligned with the Governance Regulation framework but will be better synchronised with the national energy and climate plans.

The proposed revision of the EPBD is under consideration by the Council and the European Parliament.

National long-term renovation strategies 2020

The national long-term renovation strategies provided important input to the 'renovation wave’ initiative, announced as part of the European Green Deal, aiming to take further action and create the necessary conditions to scale up renovations and reap out the significant saving potential of the building sector. They are available in national language and English in the table below.

With a view to share best practices among EU countries, the Commission developed a Staff Working Document analysing the national long-term renovation strategies 2020 for all EU countries. The strategies and their assessment were a key input to the national Recovery and Resilience Plans, where energy-efficient buildings renovation has a prominent place.

National long-term renovation strategies 2014 and 2017

In 2014 and 2017, the strategies showed how EU countries planned to foster investment in the renovation of residential and commercial buildings.

• Consolidated version of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU)
• Recommendation on building renovation ((EU) 2019/786)
• Assessment of the first long-term renovation strategies under the Energy Performance of Building Directive (Art. 2a) (December 2022)
• Comprehensive study of building energy renovation activities and the uptake of nearly zero-energy buildings in the EU (2019)
• Assessment of second long-term renovation strategies under the Energy Efficiency Directive (2019)
• Amending Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2018/844/EU)
• Synthesis report on the assessment of Member States' building renovation strategies (2016)
• Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU)