Decarbonising buildings: Insights from across Europe, a report by Grantham Institute considers four key challenges facing the UK in reducing carbon emissions from its building stock, and shares insights from across Europe that have the potential to help the UK to decarbonise and increase the energy efficiency of its buildings.
Direct emissions, that come from the combustion of fossil fuels for heating, hot water and cooking, contributed 18% of total UK emissions in 2019 – more than any other sector apart from surface transport.
Overview
[Excerpt Introduction from the Report] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report stated that, to avoid a 1.5C rise in global temperatures, emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) need to approximately halve from levels by 2030.
Despite this clear warning, global annual emissions remain largely unchanged. This emphasizes the need for a considerable acceleration of efforts to reduce GHG emissions, not least in the decarbonisation of buildings which account for nearly 40% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions.
Individual countries have been using a wide variety of policy levers, technological approaches and economic incentives to try and decarbonise their built environments. Given the speed at which countries need to reduce their emissions, it’s important that insights are shared between contextually similar countries so that successes can be scaled-up and the global climate transition can occur at a faster pace.
In this report, we provide case studies of policies, measures and initiatives from across Europe that have the potential to help the UK tackle key hurdles that are currently impeding building decarbonisation efforts.
This is an area of increasing importance following the emergence of the recent energy crisis which, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has hit UK household budgets harder than in any other European country.
Such an assessment highlights the urgent need for the UK to decarbonise and increase the energy efficiency of its building stock to both protect citizens from volatile energy prices and to ensure energy security across the UK. The sector itself remains a significant contributor towards GHG emissions across the UK, accounting for 30% of national emissions in 2019. Cold homes in the UK cost the NHS an estimated £857m a year and therefore decarbonisation will also provide additional benefits for improving public health and productivity.
Four primary challenges
This report focuses on four primary challenges facing the UK in the decarbonisation of its building stock. These are derived from reports by key organisations such as the UK Climate Change Committee (CCC):
Improving efficiency standards, measure and methods
- Making building efficiency standards more comprehensive and reflective of real-world performance
- Meeting the specific renovation requirements of a diverse range of buildings
- Implementing efficiency measures as cost-effectively as possible
Decarbonising heating
- Transitioning away from fossil fuels for space and water heating services
- Maintaining and improving current levels of heating technology performance
- Improving accessibility to sustainable heating & cooling technologies
Stimulating building energy renovations
- Encouraging the installation of new efficient heating technologies and insulation measures
- Ensuring renovations lead to improvements in energy efficiency through metering and validation
- Streamlining support schemes to improve accessibility to available advice and financial support
Fostering the required research, skills and training
- Ensuring the required skills and expertise are available to implement building decarbonisation measures
- Protecting and ensuring the quality of retrofit delivery for property owners
- Refining research and collaboration schemes to provide direction to specific development goals.
Case studies of initiatives across Europe
The report provides case studies of policies, measures and initiatives from across Europe that have the potential to help the UK, or any country, tackle key hurdles that are currently impeding building decarbonisation efforts. The Grantham Institute and Imperial College London report includes full details on the following case studies:
Sweden currently has the highest number of ground source heat pumps per capita in the world
Munich
Following the declaration of a climate emergency by Munich’s city council in , plans were drawn up to fulfil the city’s commitment of achieving Net-Zero by 2035, ten years earlier than the national 2045 target. Such bold ambition has seen the city set the target to meet all electricity demand with locally produced renewable power by 2025.
Stockholm
The city of Stockholm has reduced its GHG emissions by 60% by 2018 compared to 2000 levels largely due to the transition away from oil boilers towards more efficient district heating systems.
Gothenburg
The city of Gothenburg sets the example throughout Sweden for ambitious climate action. It aims to become an environmentally sustainable city by 2030 and to provide 100% renewable energy for both regional electricity and district heating by 2025.
Oslo
As a member of C40 cities, Oslo has distinguished itself globally as a frontrunner in decarbonisation.
Milan
The city of Milan has taken a leading role within Italy on building decarbonisation, seeking to implement Italy’s first zero-carbon social housing district which aims to become fully-carbon neutral over the next 30 years whilst taking significant steps to include its citizens in the process of decarbonising their city,
Lyon
For the period 2021 – 2026, Lyon has pledged €3.6 billion to help facilitate the recovery and ecological transition of the city.
Amsterdam
Climate action in Amsterdam has become increasingly ambitious in recent years with current plans estimated to reduce citywide emissions by 55% and 95% by 2030 and 2050 respectively compared to levels in 1990.
Paris
Past efforts within Paris focusing on building decarbonisation have been particularly innovative, utilising new technologies and encouraging new building practises to not only further the city’s building decarbonisation efforts but also to present an example for the rest of France to follow.
Authors: William Baker, Dr Salvador Acha, Dr Neil Jennings, Professor Christos Markides, Professor Nilay Shah
Source: Grantham Institute and Imperial College London
Image and design by Matthew Hart
