Climate-KIC launches green property index proposal

The EU's principle initiative for climate innovation, Climate-KIC, has unveiled details of a ground-breaking proposal to create a single index for benchmarking the energy efficiency of building stock across the continent.


The European Energy Performance of Properties Analysis (EEPPA), launched in partnership with real estate firm Knight Frank, aggregates data from Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) across the EU; to support the business case for investments in energy efficiency and climate-friendly technologies.

Under the current system, EU member states operate separate building EPC schemes; leading to a lack of comparability given the differences in how EPCs have been derived. Creating an integrated index of these EPCs across states will increase transparency and understanding of energy efficiency retrofits for commercial property, and help EU states to achieve Europe’s 20% energy efficiency target.

Speaking of the benefits of this integrated approach, Climate-KIC UK’s innovation lead Zsolt Gemesi said: “It is a significant step in lowering the 40% of global anthropogenic greenhouse gases that the built environment produces. It addresses one of the key challenges of Climate-KIC in creating resilient cities and mitigating the global impact of climate change.”

Potential energy savings in the building sector – the largest energy-consuming sector in the EU – are estimated at 61% in residential buildings, and 38% in tertiary buildings such as offices, shops and hospitals. The EEPPA will enable estates managers to target inefficient properties, enabling better investment decisions to be made and more cost-effective energy services to be provided by the commercial sector.

Investors and owners will be able to map EPC trends across the EU, estimate potential energy efficiency gains from building management and identify market opportunities for upgrading building components and management. By being readily available online, EEPPA also has the potential allow occupiers to engage in holistic environmental management via digital and social media.

EEPPA benefits

As well as commercial benefits, the proposed EEPPA model will also support European Governments by: –

  • Creating a framework to monitor the overall and regional energy performance of European building stock.
  • Giving Governments access to innovative data analytics, and allowing them to benchmark the energy performance of one country’s building stock against other countries. 
  • Identifying regional energy needs, resulting in better energy generation and delivery could be better managed at European level, thus improving energy security in Europe. 

This new property index proposal has been welcomed by recycling and waste management solutions firm Veolia. Executive vice-president Estelle Brachlianoff said: “The world is still developing and needs new resources – Veolia’s challenge is to sustainably meet these demands by resourcing the world.

“We’ve been working with our customers to improve their environmental and economic performance, and I welcome the opportunity to explore multinational energy efficiency solutions like the ones outlined in the EEPPA proposals – carbon emissions know no borders.”

The Climate Group, the Institute for Sustainability, the University of Ferrara, the University of Wolverhampton, the Instituto Valenciano de la Edificacion, and the EU Commission Delegation for Energy (Energy Efficiency Unit) were also involved in the development of the EEPPA proposal.

Luke Nicholls

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