[Webinar] #BuildingLife – WholeLife Carbon for Existing Buildings: How to compare portfolios, decide and invest in renovation strategies in Europe ?

📅 17th March🕚 2 pm-3.30 pm

As Europe accelerates its pathway towards carbon neutrality, the renovation of existing buildings has become a critical lever for decarbonising the built environment. Yet, comparing assets, prioritising actions and defining robust renovation strategies across different European countries remains a major challenge.

To address these questions, we have organized a webinar presenting key insights from the Net Zero Carbon Renovation Europe study, conducted by Alliance HQE-GBC, AIA Environnement and Deerns, within the EU-funded BuildingLife project with Laudes and IKEA Foundations financial support.

This webinar explored how to:

• Address the needs of asset owners and investors managing portfolios across multiple countries, seeking consistent and comparable environmental strategies;
• Understand divergences and convergences between national contexts in terms of regulations, LCA methodologies, calculation scopes and energy mixes;
• Use carbon payback time as a key decision-making indicator at portfolio and European levels;
• Drive a shared European vision to guide investments, reinvent business models, and fast-track the transition to low-carbon renovation

What is the European NZC Renovation Program ?
The report analyses and compares low-carbon renovation practices, methodologies and regulatory frameworks across France, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands, highlighting how national contexts influence carbon performance outcomes.
It also presents the outcome of an unprecedented harmonised life-cycle assessment (LCA) applied to seven generic renovation cases, modelled in Paris, Amsterdam, Madrid and Rome, and assessing :
– Embodied carbon (from materials and construction),
– Operational carbon (from building operations),
– Carbon payback time, as the time required for energy savings to offset renovation-related emissions, depending on national energy mixes and construction material data.

Speakers were :

• Josefina Lindblom – European Commission – DG Environment – Policy Officer Sustainable Buildings
• Rachel Chermain – Alliance HQE-GBC – CEO
• Simon Davies – AIA Environnement – Managing Director
• Ana Cunha – Deerns Group – Strategic Sustainability Advisor & CSR Director

This study has been carried out as part of the #BuildingLife European project with the support of European Climate Foundation, Ikea Foundation, Laudes Foundation and the World Green Building Council.