EU Country Profiles

Germany regulates building energy performance through the Gebäudeenergiegesetz (GEG), the Buildings Energy Act, in force since November 2020. Its 2023 amendment, effective from January 2024, requires newly installed heating systems to run on at least 65% renewable energy. The rule applies straight away to new buildings in new development areas; for existing buildings it is tied to municipal heat planning, which larger cities must complete first.

The energy certificate (Energieausweis) is required when a building is built, sold or let, and rates buildings on a scale from A+ to H. Renovation and efficient heating are supported through the federal BEG programme (Bundesförderung für effiziente Gebäude).

The recast EPBD requires Germany, like every member state, to move its certificates to the common A to G scale and to set national thresholds for its non-residential stock and a trajectory for its homes.

France reformed its energy performance certificate, the DPE (Diagnostic de performance énergétique), in July 2021. The certificate became legally enforceable and is now calculated from the building's characteristics rather than past energy bills, with a rating that combines energy use and greenhouse gas emissions.

The Loi Climat et Résilience of August 2021 uses the DPE to set minimum standards for rented homes: G-rated dwellings can no longer be newly let from 2025, F-rated from 2028 and E-rated from 2034, and rents on F and G homes have been frozen since August 2022. Renovation is supported through MaPrimeRénov', introduced in 2020.

For new buildings, the RE2020 regulation in force since January 2022 limits both energy use and life-cycle carbon emissions, anticipating the EPBD's life-cycle carbon disclosure for new buildings from 2028.

Dutch homes and commercial buildings need an energy label when they are sold or let, and labels are registered in the national EP-Online database. Since 2021 labels are determined under the NTA 8800 method by a certified adviser.

Since January 2023, offices with a floor area above 100 m² must hold at least energy label C to be used as offices, one of the first minimum energy performance standards in the EU. New buildings must meet the BENG requirements, in force since January 2021, which set three indicators: maximum energy need, maximum primary fossil energy use and a minimum share of renewable energy, plus a limit on summer overheating.

Building rules are now set out in the Besluit bouwwerken leefomgeving (Bbl), which replaced the Bouwbesluit 2012 in January 2024 under the Environment and Planning Act.

Much of Poland's single-family housing has been heated with coal and other solid fuels, which makes heating a question of air quality as well as energy. The Czyste Powietrze (Clean Air) programme, running since 2018, funds the replacement of old solid-fuel heat sources and the thermal modernisation of single-family homes.

Since 2021, building owners have had to declare their heat sources in a central register of building emissions (CEEB). Energy performance certificates (świadectwa charakterystyki energetycznej) have been required when buildings are sold or let since April 2023, which widened their use beyond new buildings.

Under the recast EPBD, Poland's residential trajectory has to show how the average primary energy use of its homes falls by 16% by 2030 and 20–22% by 2035, with most of the reduction coming from the worst-performing buildings.

Sweden's heating is dominated by district heating in apartment buildings and by heat pumps in single-family homes, which has largely removed oil from building heating. As a result, the main levers for further improvement are the building envelope and the efficiency of the heat supply.

Boverket's building regulations (BBR) set energy requirements for new buildings as a primary energy number, adjusted for local climate. Energy declarations (energideklarationer) are required for most buildings when they are built, sold or let, and are registered with Boverket.

The recast EPBD's zero-emission building standard treats efficient district heating as a valid energy source, which is significant for Swedish new construction connected to existing networks.

Italy's Superbonus, introduced in 2020, offered a tax deduction of 110% of the cost of qualifying energy renovations and triggered a large wave of works, especially in apartment buildings. From 2023 the rate was cut in steps and the scheme was closed to most new projects, ending its role as the main driver of renovation.

The energy performance certificate, the APE (Attestato di prestazione energetica), uses ten classes from A4 to G under national guidelines adopted in 2015. Certification is managed by the regions, and ENEA runs the national SIAPE database that collects regional certificate data.

The recast EPBD requires Italy to replace the A4 to G scale with the common A to G scale and to plan the residential trajectory that the Superbonus was partly meant to deliver.