Due to the significant impact of buildings and the construction industry on the economy, jobs and quality of life, the EU addresses this issue in its “Circular Economy Action Plan”.
By considering the safety and functionality of construction products, the EU plans to revie construction products on their sustainability performance and as a possibility introduce a recycle content requirement for certain products.
In addition, the EU want to promote measures for improved durability and adaptability of buildings based on circular economy principles for building design. Along with life cycle assessments in public procurement and its sustainable finance framework for the reduction of carbon emissions.
Furthermore, it is considered to set a material recovery target manifested in EU regulations for the construction sector and demolition waste along with promoting the reduction of soil sealing, rehabilitate abandoned or contaminated brownfields.
In the European Green Deal, the “Renovation Wave” was announced. Its goal is to improve energy efficiency in the EU through circular principles and optimization of the lifecycle performance of buildings along with a longer life expectancy of buildings.
All this will contribute to the target of a pollution net zero by mid of the century, which was agreed on at the Climate change conference COP26.
Another initiative on European level is ELENA, the European local energy assistance. It’s a non-profit project which targets to provide technical assistance for energy efficiency and renewable energy investments. The focus lies on buildings and urban transport. The targeted audience ranges from EU member states to homeowner associations which can apply on their website for the services.In addition, there is the European Circular City declaration with the goal to create a resource efficient, low carbon and socially responsible society by accelerating the transformation to circular economy in Europe. By doing so it aims to underline the critical role, all local and regional government have, to promote the circular transformation and the shared vision of circular cities. [4] [5] [6] [7]
