Energy efficiency data
Intervention point
Unless the gaps in energy efficiency data are filled, the financial case for retrofit will continue to be unclear, hampering willingness to invest and reducing the opportunities appropriate incentives across the value chain.
Current situation
If the real estate industry is to meet its decarbonisation targets, it must electrify and reduce energy usage within buildings. In Europe, around 80 percent of the 2050 building stock already exists today.
However, real estate’s “fragmented and siloed” collection of energy performance data is slowing down renovation rates, which at 0.2 to 0.3 percent across the EU, is well below the 2 to 3 percent rate required to reach the European Commission’s goal of improving energy efficiency by 32.5 percent by 2030.
A lack of data, and associated uncertainties around net financial cost or benefit, are the main barriers to undertaking energy efficiency renovations. Energy efficient renovations are usually more costly than less efficient solutions, while reliable energy efficiency performance data is not widely available for consumers, businesses or financial institutions. However, with more evidence forthcoming about the financial benefits of such renovations, the cost barrier could be overcome.
To overcome the fragmented and siloed collection of data in real estate, better collaboration between many value chain links – including tenants, landlords, financiers, retrofit providers, data analysts and policy makers – is needed to support industry data-sharing initiatives. Ideally, providing data becomes mandatory or standard best practice.
How to get involved
Icebreaker One is looking for supporters to help unlock net-zero data from several sectors, including real estate. Find out more here: https://icebreakerone.org/supporter/
Register as a data provider for your energy efficiency renovation investments on the De-risking Energy Efficiency Platform here: https://deep.eefig.eu/accounts/signup/
Join the BuiltHub community, contribute your data and become a user of the platform. Find out more here: https://builthub.eu/get-involved
Lenders can engage with the EEMI and develop the business case for green mortgages through the EEM label. Find out more here: https://www.energy-efficient-mortgage-label.org/
Interested in finding out more? Click here to download the full technical briefing.
Not yet a ULI member? Click here to join.
Last updated: July 2023
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