Annual plenary meetings will see partners presenting annual ‘state of progress’ reports on partnerships along the value chain of the building sector to speed up retrofitting of existing buildings at member states level.
Two technical working groups will also be set up: Energy Conservation & Saving; and Efficient Energy Generation & Use.
The working groups are expected to make progress in implementing relevant buildings legislation at EU member states level and make policy recommendations. The groups are also expected to make proposals for retrofitting programmes and pilot projects at member state level – including a number of financing tools and mechanisms to provide necessary resources from investors.
Topics to be covered include: mandatory versus non-mandatory retrofitting targets; best available technologies for commercial and residential buildings; and financing renovation for the residential sector via performance contracting schemes.
Tom Vereijken, President at the European Partners for the Environment (EPE) and Director Water at Grontmij, says: “The Forum is a platform which enables the integration of expertise to accelerate the implementation of the estimated 38% cost-effective savings potential in existing buildings by 2020.
“The Forum will also help member states to coherently implement relevant EU buildings legislation at national level.
“The Forum will enable front-runners to get successful ‘bottom up’ initiatives into the mainstream. This in turn creates a scaling-up effect, which will allow existing EU buildings to be upgraded to cost-optimal energy performance standards.”
The Forum’s provisional steering committee consists of:
- European Partners for the Environment (EPE)
- The Build Up Initiative of the European Commission
- The French Ministry of the Environment
- The Dutch Energy Transition Platform for the Built Environment (PeGo)
- Eurofuel (the European Heating Oil Association) and its member UPEI
- The Local Government for Sustainability (ICLEI)
- The EUREC Agency (European Renewable Energy Research Centres)