Launch of the CEN Workshop ‘Carbon Bill of the Refurbishment of Buildings’ | 31 March 2025 | online

A new CEN Workshop is being established to expand on the innovative deliverables of the CHRONICLE research project. The project’s vision is to improve building performance in terms of energy efficiency, comfort, and well-being through the digitalization of building information.

CHRONICLE has proposed to CEN/CENELEC the development of a workshop based on the results of the project and in the standard EN 15978 (under development). The proposal defines a methodology to calculate the carbon bill of the refurbishment of a building, to support the reduction in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: Draft CWA and draft Project Plan.

WORKSHOP DETAILS

Kick-off meeting: 31 March 2025
Time: 9.30 to 12.30 (CEST)
Location: online
Programme: Agenda

REGISTRATION

We encourage all interested experts to participate. To register, please send your completed form to the workshop secretary Aitor Aragón from UNE – Asociación Española de Normalización (aaragonb@une.org) by March 14th, 2025.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Buildings play a significant role in global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, accounting for approximately 40.3% of total energy consumption and 34.4% of CO₂ emissions in the European Union (EU) alone. Therefore, the built environment is a critical sector for achieving the carbon neutrality goals established by the EU for 2050.

The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) aims to ensure that the building sector contributes to the overarching goal of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030. One of the overarching objectives is the decarbonization of EU’s building stock, reducing the energy demand and promoting the use of renewable energy sources.

This workshop is based on several deliverables of the CHRONICLE project, such as “dynamic Level(s) approach for building and LC performance assessment (2.2)” and “tool suite for WLC assessment and climate neutral building renovation planning (4.3)”. More specifically, the workshop proposes the calculation of the carbon bill of buildings based on the GWP defined in EN 15978 and the price for emissions allowances in Europe. Based on calculation, the carbon bill of the refurbishment is defined as the difference between the carbon bill of the existing building and the carbon bill after the renovation, both with a lifecycle perspective. It is intended that the CWA as an outcome of this workshop can be used to support the “polluter pays” principle from a “positive” perspective, encouraging renovations that reduce the carbon footprint over the life cycle of a building.

COMMENTS ON DRAFT

Experts are also invited to submit their comments on the draft Project Plan by the same deadline using the commenting form. Please send it to Aitor Aragon (aaragonb@une.orgby 14 March 2025.

For more information, please check CEN/CENELEC website for the CWA.