Refurbishing most energy-inefficient buildings key lever for rapid buildings' emission reduction – report

Buildings in the worst energy efficiency categories have above-average carbon emissions, so targeting them first for refurbishments would have a significant climate impact, according to a report published by the German National Academy of Sciences. Insulating and converting such buildings to a climate-neutral heating supply is an important lever to rapidly reduce emissions in the building sector, which have remained stubbornly high for years. However, the report – published as part of the academy’s Energy Systems of the Future (ESYS) initiative – also found that there is limited knowledge of the worst-performing buildings and their occupants. The poor availability of data makes it difficult for legislators to formulate targeted policy measures, the report found. The authors recommended higher-quality energy performance certificates and entering the associated data into a central and publicly accessible database.

The heating transition requires consideration of the ability of different groups to pay for any refurbishments, the authors highlighted. “To ensure that the heating transition is not only ecologically but also socially sustainable, vulnerable groups must be afforded greater protection,” said author Melanie Jaeger-Erben. “They often face a dilemma between housing and refurbishment costs: as refurbishment is not financially affordable for them, housing costs also rise with the constant increase in the price of CO2." This dilemma had to be overcome by empowering people to actively support the heating transition, she argued.

Germany is the only country in Europe without a central database for buildings' energy performance certificate data, with think tank BPIE calling on the government to implement one as a key monitoring instrument. State support granted for energy efficiency and renewable energy measures in private households increased to 14.4 billion euros in 2024, up from 12.3 billion euros in 2023, said state-owned development bank KfW in a press release earlier this year. Making German homes less climate-damaging and keeping them affordable for residents at the same time will be a central task for the country's next government.