Subject: Investing in water efficiency when renovating buildings
Through the renovation wave initiative, the EU aims to increase energy efficiency by renovating 35 million building units by 2030. A significant amount of funding will be required for this purpose.
Besides reducing emissions, it is essential to safeguard water security. A recent United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification report indicated that, unless urgent action is taken, 3 out of 4 people will suffer from drought by 2050. Given that 13 Member States have declared themselves to be affected by desertification and water scarcity, as well as the fact that droughts are increasingly frequent and widespread in the EU, water efficiency in building units must be prioritised, such as through rainwater harvesting and use, greywater reuse or insulating piping.
1. Is the Commission planning on promoting water- and energy-efficiency measures concomitantly during the mandatory renovation of buildings or will new investments have to be made at a later stage to improve water efficiency?
2. How does it intend to ensure water efficiency in households over the coming years?
Submitted: 7.3.2023
Answer given by Mr Sinkevičius on behalf of the European Commission (2 May 2023)
The regulation of water consumption in buildings is best addressed via building codes, which are a national or regional competency.
In its Renovation Wave Strategy (1), the Commission included good water management as one of the key principles for renovation. Commission’s proposal for the revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2) addresses indirectly water use.
The guidance for the climate resilience of buildings (3) covers the improvement of their water efficiency. Several Member States have already reported water efficiency measures as part of their Long Term Renovation Strategies (4).
Additionally, the Circular Economy Action Plan (5) promotes the use of new technologies in buildings to reduce water consumption and leakages.
The Commission’s proposal on an Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation (6) includes water use and efficiency as a performance indicator.
The proposal for the Energy Efficiency Directive (7) recast reinforces the focus on the energy and water management through the public sector obligations.
EU legislation on water was also updated in line with the Zero Pollution (8) ambitions on water efficiency. The new Drinking Water Directive (9) will reduce waste of water (e.g. by obliging Member States to take corrective action when their leakage rate exceeds a certain threshold).
The Zero Pollution action plan also supports the use of digital technologies that will both reduce pollution and improve water efficiency (10).
1 ∙ ⸱ https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/renovation-wave_en
2 ∙ ⸱ COM(2021)802 final .
3 ∙ ⸱ EU-level technical guidance on adapting buildings to climate change, Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023, ISBN 978-92-68-01056-3,
https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/7cca7ab9-cc5e-11ed-a05c-01aa75ed71a1/language-en 4 ∙ ⸱ https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficient-buildings/long-term-renovation-strategies_en 5 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/circular-economy-action-plan_en 6 ∙ ⸱ https://ec.europa.eu/info/energy-climate-change-environment/standards-tools-and-labels/products-labelling-rules-and-requirements/sustainable-
products/ecodesign-sustainable-products_en
7 ∙ ⸱ COM (2021) 558 final.
8 ∙ ⸱ https://environment.ec.europa.eu/strategy/zero-pollution-action-plan_en
9 ∙ ⸱ Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (recast),
OJ L 435, 23.12.2020, p. 1‐62.
10 ∙ ⸱ Digital Solutions for Zero Pollution, 12.5.2021: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/pdf/zero-pollution-action-plan/swd-digital-solutions_en.pdf
| | )The EU continues to support, through its programme for the environment and climate action (11) and Horizon Europe (12) the development of innovative technologies and nature-based solutions to help achieve water policy objectives more efficiently, including the promotion of water reuse (13).
11 ∙ ⸱ LIFE: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/programmes/life_en
12 ∙ ⸱ https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe_en
13 ∙ ⸱ WAT’SAVEREUSE ( https://www.water-reuse-europe.org/life-project-watsavereuse);
RUN4LIFE project (https://run4life-project.eu);
HOUSEFUL project (https://houseful.eu/);
NEXTGEN project (https://nextgenwater.eu/).