Energy54

CEMR Engages in a Vibrant Debate on Europe’s Green Transition at SMARTCITY Expo Barcelona

The Secretary-General of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is set to participate in a high-stakes panel discussion at the SMARTCITY Expo Barcelona. The session, titled “Governance-in-Partnership to Achieve an Inclusive Green Transition,” will delve into the pivotal role of local and regional governments in delivering Europe’s green transition goals.
 
Local and regional authorities are at the forefront of Europe’s green transformation, playing an irreplaceable role in achieving autonomy through green energy sources within the EU while reducing dependence on fossil fuels. This ambitious vision is central to the CEMR’s message as they work to create an inclusive, sustainable, and green future that leaves no one and no place behind.
 
The CEMR Secretary-General, Fabrizio Rossi, will discuss Europe’s challenges in garnering widespread support for this green transition. These include the fear of negative social impacts. He will also showcase how region-to-region cooperation and going beyond the traditional urban-rural dichotomy, can lead to more effective solutions for addressing Europe’s challenges in garnering widespread support for the green transition. 
 
In the context of the upcoming EU election, it is also crucial to understand that addressing the potential negative social impacts and inequalities is critical for the future of European democracy and social justice.
 
CEMR has recently become a supporting institution of SMARTCITY Expo Barcelona, the world’s largest urban innovation event, guiding cities towards a brighter future since 2011. The event brings together global leaders from innovative companies, governments, and organisations to promote urban innovation and empower cities to confront today’s pressing challenges.

ROSSI Fabrizio

Secretary General

Buildings directive: a huge deal for local governments

When the European Commission published its proposal for a recast of the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive more than a year ago, few anticipated the scope and breadth of its revamp on citizens and local governments.

Now that the directive has been endorsed by the European Parliament, what can we expect from it? And what impact will it have on local governments? We’ve looked into these questions of major importance to municipalities, cities and regions.

The European Green Deal moving forward

The revision of the directive – also known as the EPBD – takes place in the context of the ‘European Green Deal’, which aims to put the EU firmly on the path towards climate neutrality by 2050.

To this end, in 2021, the von der Leyen Commission put on the table its so-called ‘Fit for 55’ package, a mammoth law package of energy and climate laws aimed at reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030.

It is against this backdrop that the European Commission decided to revise upwards the Union’s energy performance of buildings targets. As stated by the Commission, buildings in the EU are responsible for 40% of our energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions. And almost 75% of the building stock is energy inefficient… The renovation awaiting it is immense given the millions of old buildings across Europe.

The transition to zero-emissions buildings

The introduction of the ‘zero-emission building’ (ZEB) definition in the revised EPBD is of key importance, as it refers to the new ‘A’ energy performance class. From 2028 onwards, all new buildings will have to be zero emission. According to the adopted text, new buildings must achieve the highest level of energy performance, thanks to moderate consumption and heating powered by decarbonised energy.

CEMR believes that, while it is important to focus on the energy performance of buildings, reconfiguring the whole energy system is also needed for a net zero future.

Minimum energy performance standards

According to the text, public buildings will have to achieve at least energy performance class E by 2027, and D by 2030 (Commission proposed F and E). In addition, all new buildings occupied, operated or owned by public authorities should be zero-emission from 2026.

This is a big blow for local and regional governments who will now have to renovate in droves. CEMR considers these targets too ambitious and unrealistic, even for the most advanced municipalities and regions.

While increasing the rate of renovations of energy-inefficient buildings is essential, CEMR believes it is unlikely that all class “E”, “F” and “G” buildings will be renovated by 2030.

All measures needed to achieve these targets will be established by each Member State in national renovation plans. To take into account EU countries’ diverse building stocks, the letter G will correspond to the 15% worst-performing buildings in the national stock.

For CEMR, this proposal is questionable since the EU’s energy efficiency classification system is made regardless of the initial situation concerning the quality of the buildings. In the Nordic countries, for example, a large proportion of the building stock scores high on the EU’s energy efficiency scale due to the climatic conditions.

However, in light of the heated exchanges taking place in EU capitals, it is not clear whether the minimum energy performance standards will survive mounting opposition from the Member States.

The ‘neighbourhood’ approach

The ‘neighbourhood’ approach, as opposed to individual buildings, is only mentioned twice in the proposal and therefore falls far short of its potential. This novel approach to buildings sees them as part of a broader neighbourhood rather than isolated units. By doing so, substantial economies of scale can be generated.

In CEMR’s view, the ‘neighbourhood’ approach should be reinforced in the legislation. CEMR however welcomes the possibility for Member States to grant regional and local authorities the possibility to identify “neighbourhoods” for the implementation of integrated renovation programmes.

Next steps

While the Parliament adopted its position by 343 votes to 216, with 78 abstentions, MEPs will now enter into negotiations with the Council to agree on the final shape of the bill.

CEMR will keep on monitoring developments, exchanging with its members and engaging with the EU institutions to ensure a smooth implementation of the directive on the ground. While in the short term, considerable resources will be required, in the medium and long term, the energy performance of buildings will greatly reduce energy bills.

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility

Faster permitting of renewables: ‘Local governments must be fully involved at all stages!’

While the Council of the EU adopted a new regulation aiming at boosting the deployment of renewable energies through faster and easier permitting procedures, CEMR calls for the full involvement of municipalities and regions in this process.

CEMR values the adoption of emergency measures to speed up renewables permitting and considers local and regional governments as the driving force for achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal. It however expresses substantive reservations on a number of points.

Reacting to the EU Energy Ministers’ agreement, CEMR’s spokesperson on Climate and Energy, Belinda Gottardi highlighted the necessity to give sufficient time for the processes to find solutions that adequately balance legitimate local and national interests. 

“There is a need to fully take on board municipalities and regions in all steps of the permitting of renewable energies. In most EU Member States, local governments are the competent authorities for granting permits for many of the renewable energies and grid connections”, she pointed out. “They need to manage spatial conflicts to ensure balanced solutions with sufficient local acceptance.”

“Municipalities and regions have a wealth of valuable experience and expertise that act as a key asset in the energy transition. Bypassing them or giving inadequate time in this process could have counterproductive effects and lower citizens’ acceptance.”, she concluded. 

The regulation will now have to be interpreted within the various national contexts, with necessary alterations of the processes to respect the time limits. Clarifications will be needed, notably on how spatial planning and environmental assessments will be affected, and which power plants will be included. 

Background information

On 19 December, EU Member States agreed on the substance of a Council’s Regulation laying down a framework to accelerate the deployment of renewable energy. This regulation is part of a series of Council regulations under Art. 122 of the Treaty of the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). It addresses the “emergency nature to accelerate the permit-granting process”  for the generation of renewable energies in the ongoing energy crisis, provoked by Russia’s war against Ukraine.

The Regulation is of particular interest for CEMR given that in a lot of European countries, local and regional governments are the competent authorities for spatial planning and granting permits for the installation of solar-PV, heat pumps, wind power, other renewable power plants, and grid connections. 

Key contents of the legislation are the concept of the overriding public interest for the production of renewable energy, their grid connection, and shorter permit-granting within specified time periods. The overriding public interest enables new projects to benefit from a simplified environmental assessment under specific EU directives.

Generally, this also applies to the respective grid connections. Solar energy equipment should receive a permit no later than three months or be accepted after 1 month of “positive administrative silence” for capacity below 50 kW or 10,8 kW. Moreover, the regulation introduces a maximum of six months for the permit-granting process regarding the repowering of renewable energy power plants and their grid connection, and three months if the increase is less than 15%. Heat pumps below 50 MW benefit from a one-month deadline and from a maximum of three months for ground source heat pumps. 

Links to CEMR’s positions

• Local and regional governments’ contribution to the European Green Deal
• Fit for 55: enabling local and regional climate transitions
• CEMR’s joint response – consultations on the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED)

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility

Discover the main findings

On 21 October 2022, the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) organised a training event for elected political representatives working in climate adaptation and mitigation, with an emphasis on sustainable finance. The sessions included a keynote speech from a scientist, presentations of case studies, interactive exercises and discussions. The objective was to familiarise local and regional elected officials with the concept of sustainable finance from a scientific, regulatory and technical perspective.
 
A summary of the training work, including key concepts, speaker and panel content, and key findings, can be found here.
 
This edition of the training academy represents the seventh in the series organised by CEMR/PLATFORMA, which was initially inspired by the Urban Agenda for the EU. 

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility

Local leaders explore how to mobilise sustainable finance at local and regional level

More than forty local and regional leaders gathered on Friday (21 October) to learn more about sustainable finances during CEMR’s training academy.

Terms like “sustainable finance” or “Taxonomy” are part of the everyday Brussels jargon and are now trickling down to the local and regional levels. After the Paris Agreement in 2015, the European Commission launched an ambitious Sustainable Finance action plan for financing sustainable growth in 2018. At the heart of it is the EU Taxonomy, a classification instrument which attempts to define “sustainable” economic activities. In addition, private and public enterprises like municipal utilities will have to disclose environmental, social and governance information (so-called ESG factors) and report on the Taxonomy alignment.

The training provided territorial leaders basic scientific knowledge about the concept of sustainable finance. It explained the EU’s sustainable finance framework, focusing on the EU Taxonomyand explored the role of local and regional governments in mobilising climate finance. The participants also shared best practices and funding opportunities for projects and sustainable financial products.

In addition to a panel on the regulatory architecture of sustainable finance, participants had the opportunity to discover the OECD subnational climate finance hub which offers local and regional governments insightful data and a self-assessment tool. Finally, representatives from the European Investment Bank and MuniFin, a Finish municipal credit institution, showcased projects which were enabled by sustainable financial products like energy efficiency renovations of 622 houses in the French region of Picardie.

According to the OECD Subnational Government Climate Finance Hub, local and regional governments accounted for 63% of total climate –significant public expenditure in 2019. However, the local and regional elected representatives stressed the need to take more into consideration the limited technical, administrative capacities in municipalities and regional administrations. A clear and understandable regulatory framework as well as more technical assistance by experts would be necessary to implement sustainable projects to fully align public investments with the Paris Agreement.

You are interested in the subject and in Brussels? Join us on 10 November for our event: Local Finances in Europe – Unlocking investments for sustainable and resilient societies. Our study on Local Public Finances and the Green Transition will be launched, followed by a high-level policy debate on the EU economic governance framework. Register here!

GRIFFON Axelle

Advisor – Environment and mobility