After the debate and the vote, Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), rapporteur, holds a press conference on a new directive to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse-gas emissions from the buildings sector, and make it climate neutral by 2050. This transcription is the result of an automatic process. Please check against delivery.

Strasbourg

press conference

energy efficiency (T)

fight against climate change (T)

CUFFE, Ciarán (Greens/EFA, IE)

Fit for 55 (T)

Press conference by Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), rapporteur on the energy performance of buildings directive

https://api.multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/documents/20125/75317607/1709903144873_I254351Chapters%5BSD-EN%5D.srt

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, Thank you so much. And thank you for all being here today. As you said today the European Parliament approved the Recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, or the EPBD. And the vote was, I think 370 in favour, 199 against with 46 abstentions. So we're very pleased with that. It's a it's a real achievement.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, We've created a blueprint to decarbonise the building stock across Europe. With this plan, we add an essential pillar to the EU's decarbonisation plans, and we begin the long journey towards reducing 36% of Europe's CO2 emissions. The EPBD also has the potential to help bring down energy bills, to address the root causes of energy poverty, and to deliver high quality local jobs across the European economy.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, In the Parliament, the EPP, S&D, Renew, The Left and the Greens/European Free Alliance supported the deal, and I am glad that a large majority of MEPs got behind this. So as a brief summary. What we have negotiated is an update to an existing law, also called the EPBD. But this update, however, specifically charts a course for the EU to achieve a climate neutral building stock by the year 2050. Buildings are responsible for 40% of Europe's energy consumption and as I said, 36% of the CO2 emissions.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, And as many of you know, Europe was plagued into an exceptionally difficult energy crisis. While the negotiations on this file were were ongoing, energy poverty rates jumped during the crisis, over 41 million Europeans -or 9.3% of the population- were unable to keep their homes adequately warm in 2022, and that was up from 6.9% in 2021. So these high fuel bills are a real imposition on households, and the impact of this crisis and the increase in energy poverty concentrated the minds of negotiators.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, We wanted to ensure that the misery and suffering brought about by the energy crisis could not be repeated. And so our focus was delivering energy efficiency and saving measures to continuously reduce energy bills and energy import dependency. So what will the EPBD do? It will modernise Europe's building stock by setting so-called Minimum Energy Performance standards, or MEPs. They require the buildings that waste the most energy to be gradually improved over time. And to support building owners with these improvements and protect vulnerable households and tenants, financing measures, information services and social safeguards are put in place before the standards are applied.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, Today the MEPs voted in favour of the trilogue deal. The agreement that was reached last December. That agreement prioritises renovation funding for vulnerable groups. It enhances renter protections and it sets a clear pathway towards achieving a more efficient building stock in Europe. Some of the wins for the people of Europe: For the first time, we have introduced these minimum energy performance standards and they will apply to buildings in the non-residential sector, such as office buildings or hospitals.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, Member states may apply MEPs in the residential sector, amongst other measures, to reduce the average energy use of the national residential building stock. But in both cases, action must begin with the buildings that are wasting the most energy, the so-called worst performing buildings. And this is the most cost-effective approach with the greatest potential to reduce energy bills and emissions. And we're directing money on renovations with a clear policy framework to help scale up and direct public and private money to renovations.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, Member states are obliged to draw from a number of EU funds for financial support. Social safeguards or protections, including for renters, have been agreed. Financial supports offered by the Member states must prioritise vulnerable households. Member states must also protect these, both the vulnerable householders and renters, by addressing disproportionate rent increases that may cause eviction through renovation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, And in certain cases, member states may exempt buildings from the application of MEPs in case of serious hardship or where they are not cost-effective to renovate. A huge green jobs boost is expected with the implementation of this law. Thousands of local green jobs in construction, renovation and renewable industries will be created. This will support SMEs and the economy as a whole, and the directive also encourages member states to put training schemes in place to increase the availability of skilled workers to deliver on the goals.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, And finally, significant emission reductions are expected, with the EPBD giving us a better chance of protecting current and future generations of Europeans from the worst impacts of climate change. Just to talk about the flexibility for a moment, there is built-in flexibility for the member states, and it's designed to adapt well to different national contexts, including different challenges in the building stock and economic circumstances. So the next step is that each member state will establish a national building renovation plan.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, And these national building renovation plans will have national targets to ensure a pathway that turns the national stock into a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050. Member states decide what the targets are, and they have a large degree of flexibility, on how they want to see, to set and achieve these targets. And the Commission will assess those plans to ensure that they are aligned with our European goals and that they are sufficient to achieve the nationally established targets.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, First plans will be due at the end of 2025. Member states may choose to apply exemptions to the requirements. And as I'm sure you know, that can include historic buildings, agricultural buildings, military use, or those of a temporary use. Therefore, we expect the EPBD to be flexible and to adapt well to different national contexts and deliver better homes and lower fuel bills for people living in Europe.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, To conclude, today's result was hard fought and hard won. I believe the EPBD will deliver for people and for planet, and I am delighted that a strong majority of my colleagues agreed. So thank you for listening, and I'm happy to take any questions that you may have.

Q&A, Question regarding use of fossil fuels for heating.

Q&A, Questions regarding reception of the EPBD in Italy, and whether any member states are expected to resist implementation.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, I think this has been a long journey. It's been over two years in preparation. I think at an early stage, there was a lot of, shall we say, uncertainty as to what the directive contained and what it didn't contain. There was certainly, some misinformation out there, even coming from some national governments. But I think now we have clarity on what is proposed. I think people understand that we need to travel on this journey. We do have other climate legislation. We have other social legislation. But this particular law deals at a granular level with buildings, and it will give a level of certainty to what is achieved over the coming years.

SOUNDBITE (Original), Ciarán CUFFE (Greens/EFA, IE), Rapporteur, That, to me, is one of the real benefits of this legislation. It will allow the construction industry to plan ahead. It will create new, clean, tech jobs in industry. And I think it will help deliver on really the direction that Europe is going in: clean industry, support for new jobs and delivering energy security as well. And that's another lesson we learned from the last few years. We learnt of our dependence on oil, gas and nuclear fuel from Russia. And this will significantly reduce the amount of energy that's needed to heat our homes. So it will improve the resilience of Europe.