Objective
The main objective of the EU Building Stock Observatory (BSO) is to provide transparent and reliable information and data on the EU’s building stock. This supports the monitoring of current EU energy policies and measures and will contribute to future policy making.
The BSO covers a broad range of energy-related topics and provides data on buildings-related areas: building stock, energy consumption, building elements and technical building systems installed, energy performance certificates, nearly zero-energy buildings and renovation rates, but also energy poverty and financing aspects.
What does BSO include?
FactsheetsThe BSO factsheets presents a snapshot of relevant indicators in at the EU and countries’ levels.
DatabaseEvery set of data in the BSO database can be viewed per topic, year and country, or the EU as a whole. Once you have selected the indicators, the data is presented in summary tables and graphs, with references to data sources.
Users may also download the full BSO dataset (.xlsx)
How to use the BSO?
For further information and instruction on how to use the BSO webtool, you can consult the following resources (in English)
BSO events
EUSEW 2026 session on local heating and cooling plans – 11 June 2026
At the European Sustainable Energy Week 2026, policymakers, researchers and practitioners gathered to explore one of the most pressing challenges in Europe's energy transition: Turning building legislation into local action.
EU BSO partners participated at the hybrid session "Local heating and cooling plans: operationalising the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive". For over 90 minutes, participants discussed how better data and interoperability can helplocal authorities implement the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive on the ground.
A central theme of the session was the role of the EU BSO in bridging the gap between EU-level legislation and local implementation. Andreas Hermelink, Director at Guidehouse and EU BSO Project Lead, outlined the Observatory's core contributions, including harmonised indicators and trends across Europe, a common reference framework for National Building Renovation Plans, comparability between regions and countries, guidance on definitions and methodologies, and a shared data architecture capable of supporting both local and national decision-making.
The discussion identified several key priorities for strengthening the EU BSO in the coming years. These include expanding coverage to incorporate more indicators required under Article 22 of the EPBD, improving data quality and consistency, strengthening interoperability between national databases and EU-level tools, and enhancing usability so that data can more effectively support policy design and implementation.
Perhaps the strongest message to emerge from the session was that successful implementation of the directives will depend on collaboration across all levels of governance. As participants made clear, creating a common language for building data is not merely a technical exercise, it is a prerequisite for informed planning, targeted investment and effective renovation strategies across Europe.
The session was organised by DG ENER in collaboration with the OBSERVE project and several sister LIFE CET projects supported by CINEA. Partners included the HaCAS team (EED Heating and Cooling Analytical Support), FEDARENE, WE Data Europe (European Association for Energy and Water Data Management), the Urban Agenda for the EU, and the EU BSO team with Guidehouse and the Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE).
EU BSO workshop at eceee Summer Study – 4 June 2026
During the last edition of eceee Summer Study, BSO partners from Guidehouse and Buildings Performance Institute of Europe (BPIE), organised the workshop ‘Towards a building-stock data hub’ to explore the future avenues of the tool as a building-stock data hub.
The 2 representatives of the BSO consortium, Andreas Hermelink and Judit Kockat, opened a debate on how the EU BSO can further evolve as a practical tool for evidence-based buildings policy, EPBD implementation and national renovation planning. After a short introduction to the BSO and its recent developments, participants were asked to work around the following 3 questions
- Which features would improve user experience and practical uptake of the BSO?
- Which indicators are needed for emerging policy topics?
- What would make BSO data credible enough for cross-country comparison and trend analysis?
Several improvement options were identified across the groups, including more granular building-stock data, stronger geospatial resolution and GIS-based functionalities, and better links between building-stock indicators and socio-economic data such as income, affordability and vulnerability.
Participants also pointed to national examples, including the Irish Building Stock Observatory (IBSO), as useful inspiration for more detailed and spatially explicit building-stock information. These examples helped illustrate that data availability and maturity differ significantly across Member States.
In addition, attendees highlighted several policy use cases where the BSO could provide added value in the coming years such as heating and cooling planning, grid connection needs, national target setting and monitoring, load management, and peak-load data.
Overall, a message was clear throughout the session: the BSO already provides an important basis for understanding Europe’s building stock. Its next development phase could further strengthen its role as a shared evidence base for implementation, monitoring and better-informed policy decisions.
Newsletter and contact
The EU Building Stock Observatory newsletters highlighting new data, informs about updates of the web tool, news, events and more.
Consult previous newsletters and subscribe to receive the next edition directly to your mailbox.
Contact ENER-EUBSO
ec [dot] europa [dot] eu (ENER-EUBSO[at]ec[dot]europa[dot]eu) if you have any questions about the EU BSO tool.
Background
The EU Building Stock Observatory was established in 2016 as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package.
The BSO is supported by the LIFE Clean Energy Transition subprogramme, through a dedicated service contract managed by the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA).