<aside> ℹ️ Here you will read about:
Figure 9: A non-exhaustive illustration of relevant EU initiatives and policies.
Embodied carbon has been moved up the EU's agenda through the European Green Deal. This initiative from the European Commission describes the actions needed to achieve a climate transformation of European society and the economy toward 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The building and construction sector is here designated as one of seven priority areas, on the basis of its large climate footprint and thus associated potential for emission reductions.
One of the measures within Europe's Green Deal is the Renovation Wave ('A Renovation Wave for Europe'). This is not a legislative proposal, but it sets out seven main principles for which the EU must work in relation to the building stock: energy efficiency, affordability, decarbonisation and the inclusion of renewable energy, life cycle thinking and circularity, high health and environmental standards, green and digital transformation, and architecture with natural building materials ("Bauhaus").
Another measure within Europe's Green Deal is Fit for 55. This package consists of a set of interrelated legislative proposals, all of which aim to ensure a fair, competitive and green transition by 2030 and beyond. Where possible, the level of ambition of existing legislation is strengthened, such as the emission trading system (ETS), the renewable energy directive (RED) and Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). And where there is a need for new legislation, such proposals are put on the table, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). Overall, the Fit for 55 package strengthens eight existing pieces of legislation and presents five new initiatives, across a range of policy areas and economic sectors covering climate, energy and fuels, transport, buildings, land use and forestry.
Last, but not least, we will highlight the EU's Circular Economy Action Plan. Here, the European Commission has presented a number of initiatives, with an ever-expanding scope. Originally the focus was on resource extraction and waste, but the topic now also covers hazardous substances, resource efficiency and an action plan for the goals in the above-mentioned Green Deal. Within the circular economy action plan we find, among other things, the Sustainable Products Initiative (SPI), which is intended to establish sustainability principles to regulate, among other things, durability, reusability, repairability, hazardous chemicals, energy and resource efficiency, carbon and environmental footprints, digitization of product information, including digital product passports. Both the Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (ESPR) and the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) are relevant here. The following section dives deeper on these two files and the role they play in reducing emissions from the building sector.
Green public procurement is also an important element of creating demand for low-carbon products. Here, the EU's Public Procurement Directive is the core of the regulations, but in the ongoing revision processes (for example the CPR) there are proposals to include specific requirements for green procurement in several sector-specific regulations.
With this as a backdrop, the EU has initiated a revision of a number of pieces of legislation that deal with buildings and building materials, with the aim of updating these in accordance with the climate targets and these designated focus areas. One such aspect involves reducing the footprint of building materials by strengthening the legislation around embodied carbon. Measures with such relevance can be found in the following ongoing initiatives:
Detailed explanation of each in the Table below. To read about each policy file and its relevance in the embodied carbon discussions, click on “OPEN” when hovering over the name of the file.
Potential outcomes of EU policy revisions
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