EU Member States must transpose in their own legislation the recast EPBD by 29 May 2026. The directive aims to fully decarbonise buildings by 2050, primarily by increasing the rate of renovation in the EU.
The task of transposition requires Member States to transform EU-wide legal commitments into tangible action, adapted to each country’s profile. Enter the latest guide by coalition advisory members BPIE, Delivering the EPBD: a guide towards better, affordable and more resilient buildings for all in Europe, to support policymakers at national, regional and local levels.
Published in May 2025, the guide lays out an implementation strategy for the EPBD while spelling out the wider implications of EPBD implementation for health, energy security, economic growth and climate resilience.
EPBD lays the foundations of the heating and cooling transition
The buildings sector is off track its climate coals, according to BPIE’s latest EU Buildings Climate Tracker. Some key indicators such as energy consumption, renewable energy share and renovation investments are lagging behind their required targets for 2030 and 2050 by over 40 per cent. Tackling final energy consumption in households is vital to realigning the buildings sector with its goals – and tackling heating and cooling is a major part of that mission.
Around 40 per cent of energy consumed in the EU is used in buildings. Heating, cooling and domestic hot water use represent around 80 per cent energy use in residential buildings. Two-thirds of this energy is sourced from fossil fuels. Insulating homes can take significant pressure off energy demand across Europe. Insulating residential buildings as part of EPBD implementation efforts could reduce the final energy needed for heating and cooling by 44 per cent. Countries like Italy, Austria and Poland could reduce their reliance on certain fossil fuels for heating by nearly half.
Energy security begins at home
Decarbonising heating and cooling could have far-reaching implications for the EU’s energy security. The fossil fuels the EU relies on for its heating and cooling are mostly imported, opening the EU up to a risky overreliance on supplier countries. Citizens have had to shoulder the burden of a weaponised energy supply, as evidenced by the energy price volatility that followed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has highlighted the acute need to reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, especially for heating. Despite significant efforts from Member States, however, Russian gas was still 19 per cent of the EU’s total gas imports in 2024.
The EPBD sits at the heart of an interconnected ecosystem of EU policies that aim to shape Europe’s economy for a resilient, climate-neutral future. Its implementation is at once necessary, desirable and could have a transformative impact on the heating and cooling transition. While the implementation of such legislative files is a complex endeavour at a national, regional and local level, the guide published by coalition advisory member BPIE offers a wealth of information, good practice examples and expert recommendations to support legislators through the process.
