“Energy Efficiency is the highest impact measure governments can take to save energy. And buildings represent the greatest potential sector for energy savings in the European Union”, says President Van Rompuy

Organised by the Renovate Europe Campaign, in partnership with the Lithuanian Presidency of the EU, REDay 2013 took place yesterday, 9th October in Brussels.  As Member States prepare to draw up their National Renovation Roadmaps for April 2014 (EED requirement), this third edition of RE Day tackled the opportunities for designing Ambitious Renovation Roadmaps, and the challenges of unlocking the needed financing.

President Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, called on the 28 Member States to seize the huge energy saving and economic opportunities energy efficiency in buildings represents:

“Energy efficiency in buildings is not a cost, but an investment with a great rate of return”, President Van Rompuy explained in his video address.  “Undertaking ambitious renovation of the existing building stock can have very significant social, economic and environmental benefits”.

President Van Rompuy acknowledged the Campaign’s leading role in bringing together a wide range of stakeholders to help to tap into the vast energy savings of Europe’s buildings: “Because we want to succeed, Member States, but also local authorities, the financing community and industry have to engage – that’s your wish, and also mine for the years to come”

Lithuanian Environment Vice-Minister, Daiva Matoniene, whose country currently holds the Presidency of the EU, supported President Van Rompuy in her strong words:

“The responsibility is on each of us in our Member States to design ambitious Renovation Roadmaps in order to unlock the vast potential in the EU’s building stock”, said Vice-Minister Matoniene. “The deep renovation of the building stock in Lithuania is a top priority in our country, not only because of the huge energy savings potential, but also for the positive impact on people’s health, on the country’s energy independence, and on the State’s public finances”.

In addition to a series of high-level speakers who debated the opportunities for Designing Ambitious Renovation Roadmaps, representatives from across the Financial Sector (EIB, UNEP Finance Initiative, Hermes Real Estate) provided strong insight into how to unlock both public and private financing for energy efficiency in buildings.

Access the full REDay2013 Programme and full Video Address by President Van Rompuy on www.renovate-europe.eu

Press Contact

Madeleine LAFFONT

T: +32 2 639 10 10

@: madeleine.laffont@renovate-europe.eu

About the Campaign:

The Renovate Europe Campaign (REC) is an initiative of the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (EuroACE).  Its ambition is to achieve an 80% reduction of the energy demand of the existing EU building stock by 2050 compared to 2005.  The REC is calling for ambitious renovation strategies to be drawn up all across the EU in order to triple the annual renovation rate of buildings in the EU from 1% to 3% by 2020 and to ensure that all renovations are deep or staged deep renovations.