FAQ: Renovating public sector buildings

Is there a definition of central government to be used by MS?

Article 2 of the EED provides definitions but there is no definition of central government. Recital 17 states: “The obligation to renovate floor area of central government buildings should apply to the administrative departments whose competence extends over the whole territory of a Member State.” [1]

Do MS have an inventory of their central government buildings, ranked from best to poorest energy performance?

Many governments appear to know their building stock although it is not certain that they can rank them by their energy performance.  Croatia, the 28^th member state, which joined in July 2013, has a complete inventory that had been supported by a multilateral project in recent years.

If not, how long will it take to do?

The obligation is to renovate 3% of the building stock annually. This will take it well beyond the 2020 target date for energy savings. It is assumed that the renovations will continue until completed.

Is this inventory development built into the time allotted to undertake the mandatory renovations?

Everything is included in meeting the 2020 objectives. Article 5, paragraph 3 states: “For the purposes of paragraph 1, by 31 December 2013, Member States shall establish and make publicly available an inventory of heated and/or cooled central government buildings with a total useful floor area over 500 m2 and, as of 9 July 2015, over 250 m2, excluding buildings exempted on the basis of paragraph 2.”

Where will the financing come from for these renovations?

There is no specific fund but there are several sources of financing available including from the European Investment Bank. Structural funds from the EU are also giving a higher priority to energy efficiency investments. There are also novel financing initiatives such as FEDESCO in Belgium. FEDESCO is a publicly-owned energy service company that plays a key role as a facilitator, acting as an intermediary between the federal ministries and government agencies that own building (there are about 1600 federal buildings in total) and private financing or private technical services.

Is there any funding from the EU dedicated to these renovations?

The two main sources would be the European Investment Bank and structural funds.

What will the level of ambition of the renovations be?

Article 5 states that the renovation is to meet at least the minimum energy performance requirements that it has set in application of Article 4 of Directive 2010/31/EU [the recast EPBD].

There are two ways of calculating according to the Commission Guidance document.

5. Member States have a choice of two methods to meet the obligations of Article 5. The main obligation is laid down in Article 5(1) and the 'alternative' approach/obligation in Article 5(6). The fulfilment of either obligation is expected to lead to an equivalent targeted improvement in the energy performance of buildings, the chosen approach will mainly determine only the manner in which this target is reached.

6. Under the main obligation ('default' approach) the energy performance and surface6 of all buildings to which Article 5 applies will need to be specified in a publicly available inventory as set out in Article 5(5), excluding however buildings exempted on the basis of Article 5(2). This task will be facilitated by the fact that Member States are already required, under Article 12 of the EPBD, to issue energy performance certificates for buildings occupied by a public authority and frequently visited by the public.

. . .

9. Under the 'alternative' approach/obligation set out in Article 5(6) the energy saving target can be calculated on the basis of appropriate standard values for the energy consumption – expressed in kWh or other energy units – of identified reference central government buildings before and after renovation and according to estimates of the surface of the central government stock. The energy savings achieved under the alternative approach are cumulative, meaning that Member States are required to achieve the sum of annual savings over the whole period between 2014 and 2020. Furthermore, in line with Article 5(6), all the savings have to be achieved within central government buildings.

For more detail, readers are encouraged to refer to the Commission Guidance document.

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[1] For further detail, see the Guidance document prepared by the Commission, Guidance note on Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EC, and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC, Article 5: Exemplary role of public bodies' buildings, pages 2-3.