Life cycle environmental performance of EU buildings

The European Commission’s 2014 Communication on Resource Efficiency Opportunities in the Building Sector identified the need for a common EU approach to the assessment of the environmental performance of buildings. A study to develop this approach is being taken forward during 2015-2017 by DG ENV and DG GROW, with the technical support of DG JRC-IPTS.
In this context, this working paper by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) focuses on the identification of strategic priorities (the macro-objectives) for the environmental performance of the EU building stock and intends to provide an initial ‘top down’ view of what the macro-objectives should be for the building sector.
The document provides an analysis of the following:
EU and Member State policies and initiatives on resource efficiency,
evidence for the most significant environmental impacts along the life cycle of buildings;
the priorities of existing schemes and tools that are used in the EU property market.
The evidence in this working paper, together with the input of stakeholders, has been used to identify a set of macro-objectives which will then be used to set the scope for possible environmental indicators, although not all areas covered by the macro-objectives may be addressed.
The final set of macro-objectives presented in the document are split into those relating to ‘life cycle environmental performance’ and ‘quality, performance and value creation’. The identification of these two types of macro-objectives emphasises that the focus for the common EU framework will not only be on environmental performance, but also on other human and economic factors that may influence the service life and performance of buildings in the long term.