A lot of energy is still wasted in the old stock of German residential buildings.

Around a third of the houses fall into the two worst efficiency classes G and H. In other EU Member States, the situation is often even worse.

Hendrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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That is a problem for the European Union. Because it cannot achieve its ambitious climate goals with such a high proportion of poorly insulated buildings with outdated heating systems - especially since most of the buildings used today as residential buildings will still be standing in 2050 if the EU wants to be climate-neutral. The Commission therefore announced a wave of renovations last year. By 2030, 35 million buildings in the EU are to be completely renovated.

Now the Commission is stepping up.

In mid-December she wants to come up with concrete proposals on how the EU can achieve this.

The authority relies above all on mandatory minimum standards for the energy balance.

By the beginning of 2027, old buildings should at least achieve efficiency class E when they change hands or are re-let.

This not only applies to residential buildings, but also to hotels and office buildings.

The requirements are to increase to class D by 2030 and then to C in 2033.

This emerges from a draft for the revision of the EU energy efficiency rules for buildings, which the European Commission intends to officially present in mid-December.

The FAZ has received the draft.

The data and efficiency classes are still in square brackets.

So you can still make changes until the proposal is submitted.

The Commission says it can go either way.

Finding the right “calibration” to achieve the necessary CO2 savings is extremely difficult.

It is all the more important that the controversial expansion of the EU emissions trading system to include buildings.

Countries should prescribe minimum standards

If a building does not achieve the required energy efficiency class when it is sold, the buyer has three years to do so.

The Commission wants to allow the Member States a little more time to renovate apartment buildings.

They have to reach class E first in 2030 - but not only in the case of sales or new rentals - and then class D in 2035 and class C in 2040.

Regardless of this, the member states are to prescribe minimum standards for their entire building stock by 2035.

The proposal for a directive does not specify which standards these should be.

However, the Commission wants to oblige the states to revise the classification of buildings in the various efficiency classes and thereby tighten the requirements.

Unlike the efficiency classes for washing machines and refrigerators, they have not yet been standardized in the EU.

The top building class A should be reserved for zero-emission houses ("plus energy houses") and the other classes should be graded so that a maximum of 20 percent of the buildings fall into one category.

Eleven million tons of carbon dioxide

The responsible EU Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans is likely to have based his proposals not least on his home country, the Netherlands, where there are similar rules.

Similar concepts also exist in France, Great Britain and the United States.

Henning Ellermann from the German Energy Efficiency Initiative (Deneff) commented on the proposal: “We are pleased that the commission is now targeting the buildings with the worst energy efficiency would like to tackle the problem with the highest heating bills. "

In Germany, too, the climate targets in the building sector would only be achieved in this way.

With the help of minimum energy standards, 11 million tons of carbon dioxide could be saved in the building sector by 2030.

That closes two thirds of the existing gap to achieve the German CO2 targets in this sector.

How the owners increase the energy efficiency of their buildings should, according to the proposal, be left to them.

So you can improve efficiency in small steps or with a thorough renovation.

It is important that the EU give them long-term planning security, it is said in Brussels.

In the legislative process, the proposal must be approved by the Council of Ministers, the body of states and the EU Parliament so that it can come into force.

In their coalition agreement, the SPD, Greens and FDP pledged to support the proposals in the building sector in the negotiations on the “Fit for 55” climate package.