As the European Parliament is currently discussing the revision of the Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD), EuropeOn is striving to make electrical contractors’ voice heard in this process.

Electrification and electrical installations will be the main conductor of zero-emission buildings and even of ‘energy-plus’ buildings, which can produce more energy than they consume. Indeed, this Directive is poised to include a new Solar Mandate, which will make solar energy mandatory on European roofs. With this new localized clean energy generation is it paramount to enable buildings to make the most of it with battery storage and building automation but also to enable the decarbonization of transport with sound EV charging installations in buildings and of heating with electric heat pumps. All of this requires adequately sized and modern electrical installations, which will truly become the backbone of decarbonized buildings.

However, there is an obstacle to making this ambition a reality: the potential shortage of skills and building workforce. As technical and electrical installations will become the focal point of energy renovations, EuropeOn has been raising awareness about the need to address the human capital dimension of energy and climate policy as soon as possible in order to avoid bottlenecks in the near future, a piece of advice that has fortunately been headed by the European Parliament in the Directives for Energy Efficiency and Renewables (see other news).

To keep on shedding light on this issue in the context of building renovation policies, EuropeOn and its sister association GCP Europe, met with MEP Ciaran Cuffe, who is leading the Parliament’s work on the Energy Performance of Building Directive, to discuss this critical issue face to face.

Fortunately, Ciaran Cuffe seemed well aware to this potential bottleneck and reassured us that he would seek to be as ambitious as possible on this aspect of his Directive. However, he made clear that a wider consensus across EU institutions will be necessary to ensure the appropriate level of skills and workforce ambition makes it into the final Directive.