Policy brief

Following 15 negotiation rounds that took place from July 2020 until June 2022, the failure of the modernisation of the Energy Charter Tretay became a fact. Several EU countries announced their withdrawal. The next step is to withdraw the EU/EURATOM and to develop an intra-EU agreement to cancel the sunset clause that extends the protection of foreign investment in the energy sector by 20 years after the withdrawal becomes effective. 

Greening Europe’s homes and public spaces is a crucial element of the EU’s strategy towards climate neutrality, and one of the pillars of the European Green Deal. But to achieve its goals, the EU will need to come up with a comprehensive strategy for energy and resource efficiency while also ensuring that sustainable homes become an affordable solution for all citizens.

Sufficiency policies are a set of measures and daily practices that avoid the demand for energy, materials, land, water, and other natural resources over the lifecycle of buildings and goods while delivering wellbeing for all within planetary boundaries.

The Energy Charter Treaty (ECT) is a multilateral investment protection agreement which protects investments in the energy supply.

For the first time, since the entry into force of the ECT in 1998, the geopolitical, climate and financial impacts are assessed.

The analyses show that:

The 2018 EPBD recast aims at transforming Europe’s buildings into highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050 by facilitating the cost-effective transformation of existing buildings into nearly-zero energy buildings. The EPBD recast, if effectively implemented, will create an nZEB renovation market of at least 250 million dwellings and 7 billion m² of non-residential buildings, over the period 2018-2050.