Brussels, 8 September 2010

Accelerating the deep renovation rate of Europe’s existing building stock will deliver a significant percentage of the 3 million “green jobs” that European Commission President Barroso said he would like to see created by 2020 in his first “State of the Union” address to the European Parliament.

Buildings, which account for 40% of Europe’s energy consumption, offer an overall negative cost method of achieving Europe’s goals on job creation, energy security and carbon abatement. Investing in the energy efficiency of buildings is a win-win solution, unlike investments in generating capacity, infrastructure or carbon capture and storage.

According to the preliminary results of the forthcoming study ‘Energy Savings 2020’ by Ecofys and Fraunhofer ISI, to be published in September 2010, a full tripling of EU policy measures is necessary to achieve the 20% energy savings target which would lead to the creation of 1 million green jobs.

EuroACE President, Rick Wilberforce believes that “President Barroso should be congratulated for prioritising the EU’s job creation potential in the area of green and sustainable growth. Smart growth means investing in areas with the ability to meet many of the objectives of the EU all at once. Building renovation is one of the few areas that allows for such smart growth.

EuroACE member companies have the technologies available now to meet the ambitious target of tripling the renovation rate of the existing building stock by 2020 and beyond. The review of the European energy efficiency strategy is a timely opportunity to put in place concrete and ambitious measures for creating green jobs in the building sector over the next decade. The building sector must be a main priority area under this

strategy review. In particular, it should include a binding target at national level for energy saving in buildings coupled with an action plan on how Member States can ensure that a competent and highly-skilled workforce is available to undertake successful wide-scale renovation projects across Europe.”

For further information:

Amanda Afifi / Secretary General / Tel. +32 (0) 2 639 10 10 / E-mail: amanda.afifi@euroace.org 

EuroACE represents Europe’s leading companies involved with the manufacture, distribution and installation of