Background

Buildings are responsible for 40% of energy consumption and 36% of CO₂ emissions in the EU. There is a crucial need to modernize the existing building stock to make it energy efficient and renewable-based. This is essential, not only to keep temperature levels below 1.5°C by 2050, but also to reduce the EU’s energy import bills, reinforce energy security and cut energy costs for households and businesses.

Until 2020, the 2010 Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive are the EU’s main legislation when it comes to decarbonising the building sector.

For the period after 2020, the recently voted Energy Performance of Buildings and the Energy Efficiency Directives, reinforced by the new Renewable Energy Directive (REDII), are strengthening the current EU legislative framework towards a more efficient and renewable-based building sector.

The role of bioenergy

Offering a renewable solution both through district heating and decentralised stoves and boilers installations, bioenergy can play an important role in the decarbonisation of the building sector.

The role of pellet will be crucial in decarbonising the residential sector. Households can use pellets for space heating by using stove or boilers. For more information on pellet for residential heat, check our dedicated factsheet.

District heat and heat provided through Combined Heat and Power plants (CHP’s) will also play an important role for the transition of an efficient and renewable-based heat sector.

Our position

The residential sector is still dominated by the consumption of fossil fuels, mainly gas. In order to keep the temperature rise levels under 1.5°C by 2050, there is an urgent need to decarbonise the existing building stock. Individual biomass heating systems can be an important part of the solution, offering cheap and renewable solutions, especially in remote areas. Long-term strategies to decarbonise the building sector are needed, to foster a switch from fossil to renewable solutions but also to promote the replacement of old biomass solutions with highly efficient biomass stoves and boilers.