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The Jolt: Fixing Europe's leaky buildings

In Monday’s edition of The Jolt, we look at how the EU aims to sort out its energy-leaking,emissions-spewing buildings, plus oil-producing countries are urged to push back against anti-fossil fuel pledges at COP28.

Join us weekdays for bite-sized updates, expert analysis and a global view of the energy transition. Welcome to today’s episode of The Jolt, arming you with the news and insight you need to navigate the rapidly changing shift towards a decarbonised economy.

What you need to know

Here are the main climate and energy stories making the news around the world:

  • Oil-producing nations have been urged by OPEC to block attempts at COP28 to agree on phasing out fossil fuels. Leaked letters seen by The Guardian show that the group fears “a tipping point with irreversible consequences”. OPEC has declined to comment.
  • China indicated that it may support a deal to reduce or phase out fossil fuels. Climate envoy Xie Zhenhua backed an agreement on substituting oil, gas and coal for renewables and held in-depth talks with US counterpart John Kerry at the weekend.
  • The International Energy Agency says the current round of COP28 pledges would avoid 4 gigatonnes of CO2 by 2030 but that this only accounts for 30% of what is needed to honour the Paris Agreement’s target to limit global warming to 1.5C. The full analysis is here.
  • Azerbaijan is now all but certain to host next year’s summit after the latest round of draft conclusions included it in the text. Brazil is also mentioned as the host of COP30.
  • COP28 chairman Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber says the summit will finish at 11am tomorrow morning but that deadline will almost certainly be missed due to the amount of work left on the docket. This year’s meeting might instead vie with COP25’s record for latest finish: the Madrid event went 44 hours into overtime.
  • The European Union’s executive branch, the Commission, will publish its plan for a 2040 emissions reduction target on 6th February 2024, according to a draft agenda.
  • South Africa’s government approved a new energy strategy. The Integrated Resource Plan is split into two halves: one governs policy up to 2030 and the other looks further ahead to 2050. It is due to be published for consultation next year.
  • Serbia and Bulgaria have inaugurated a new gas pipeline. The interconnector will link the Balkan peninsula with Azerbaijan’s gas fields, as well as provide access to LNG terminals in the Aegean Sea and the Black Sea.
  • Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, took office yesterday. Despite his claims that climate change is a socialist hoax, his country will remain in the Paris Agreement and continue to target net-zero emissions by 2050, according to a veteran climate envoy.

Today’s main story

Fixing Europe’s leaky buildings

Image Midjourney / FORESIGHT

  • Negotiators from EU countries, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached a provisional agreement on a new law to improve the energy performance of buildings on Thursday.
  • Europe’s building stock is currently very inefficient. The sector is responsible for 40% of the EU’s energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions.
  • The law aims for all new buildings to be zero-emission by 2030 and all of Europe’s existing building stock to be zero-emission by 2050.
  • It also includes new minimum energy performance standards, renovation targets, goals for solar energy rollout and a phaseout of fossil fuels used in buildings.

  • Despite a drop in ambition, lead negotiator for the European Parliament Ciarán Cuffe called it a new dawn for one of the main areas of activity for climate action.
    “This is one element, one piece of the jigsaw of Europe doing more. And I think the big picture is that Europe is doing a lot on climate action, we are delivering and we want to do more.” - Ciarán Cuffe, Greens MEP

  • The law also includes social safeguards and there will be financial incentives, a lot of which need to come from national level. That makes the role of EU countries crucial, according to Rose Hartwig Peillon, who is working on the law for the European Alliance of Companies for Energy Efficiency in Buildings.

  • This also sends a message to the rest of the world as COP28 continues, showing that Europe is delivering on climate policies, said Ciarán Cuffe.
    More climate and energy news is available on FORESIGHT website, including the latest episode of Talking Transitions and a deep dive into an interesting new hydrogen project in Utah.

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