The European Commission on Wednesday released its Renovation Wave strategy which includes a New European Bauhaus and is aimed at doubling the energy renovation of buildings and reducing greenhouse emissions as well as heating and cooling costs for residential and commercial premises.

“We want to make private homes & public buildings more energy efficient & comfortable across Europe. That’s why we are launching today a European Renovation Wave. This will help us reach our climate targets. It will create new jobs & it will reduce energy bills for citizens,” EC President Ursula von der Leyen tweeted.

The aim is to double the energy efficiency of buildings in the next 10 years. A total of 35 million buildings in the EU could be renovated by 2030 and create an additional 160,000 “green” jobs in the construction sector.

About 40% of total energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse emissions in the EU come from buildings. Currently only one percent of buildings are renovated a year and it is necessary to accelerate renovation.

In order to achieve a reduction in emissions of at least 55% by 2030 that the EC recommended in September 2020, the EU has to reduce its greenhouse emissions from buildings by 60%, their energy consumption by 14% and energy consumption for heating and cooling by 18%.

Europe’s policies and financial resources have already positively impacted the energy efficiency of new buildings that consume only half the energy compared to buildings built over 20 years ago. However, 85% of the buildings in the EU are more than 20 years old and it is expected that their number will remain at 85% or 95% by 2050.

One of the main aims is to reduce energy poverty. The Commission said adding that almost 34 million Europeans cannot afford heating for their own homes.