Long-Term Strategy for Building Renovation in Portugal (LTRS PT)

In line with the EU climate goals, Portugal has made a commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050 through the approval, in 2019, of the Roadmap for Carbon Neutrality 2050 (RCN 2050). To achieve the goals of decarbonization and energy, social, and economic transition, the National Energy and Climate Plan 2030 (NECP 2030) was drafted and approved in 2020, in articulation with the RCN 2050. For buildings, the NECP 2030 sets out specific guidelines for reducing their carbon intensity and promoting energy renovation of the building stock, with attention to the goal of implementing the concept of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB) in the construction of new buildings and the transformation of the existing ones.

In October 2020, the European Commission published a new Strategy to boost renovation called "Renovation Wave for Europe - greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives", according to which the construction sector emerges as one of the largest energy consumers in Europe due to the registered energy inefficiency of its stock at around 75%, being also responsible for one third of GHG emissions in the European Union. For these reasons, it is considered that a renovated and improved European building stock is a fundamental part of a decarbonized and clean energy system.

The Portuguese Government approved, through the Council of Ministers Resolution 8-A/2021, of February 3rd, the Long-Term Strategy for Building Renovation (LTRS), which aims to meet european and national goals for achieving carbon neutrality and promoting energy efficiency in existing buildings, in order to transform them into NZEB buildings.

According with this  Resolution, the Government states that, regarding the investment needed until 2050 to realize the proposed packages of improvement measures that act at the level of energy efficiency of existing buildings, a total of 143,492 million euros was estimated, with the largest portion referring to the renovation of the residential building stock, amounting to 110,078 million euros, against 33,414 million euros for the non-residential building stock.

The Strategy aims to achieve primary energy savings of 11% by 2030 and 34% by 2050 and reduce the number of hours of discomfort in housing by 26% by 2030, and by 56% by 2050. The total renovated area is expected to be about 364 million square meters by 2030 and 748 million square meters by 2050.

LTRS measures include intervention in the surrounding buildings, the replacement of existing systems with more efficient systems, the promotion of renewable energy sources, the adoption of technical solutions when appropriate for the practical achievement of the energy renovation goal of the buildings covered, duly articulated with the identification and analysis of market failure response mechanisms as potential obstacles to the effect, though, among other measures, the creation and/or development of financing programs for renovation and the mobilization of public and private investment, as well as the strengthening of incentive policies and market monitoring.

To achieve the respective goals, the policies and actions contained in the LTRS were organized according to seven areas of action:

- The 1^st area of intervention includes actions for building renovation, through the creation of an appropriate financial framework for this purpose, including, among other measures, the creation or redirection of financing lines for the energy renovation of the buildings covered, according to their energy performance and sustainability criteria, as well as the revision of the current Public Administration Energy Efficiency Program for public buildings, which now includes material and water efficiency, and increasing the environmental performance of buildings.

- The 2^nd area of intervention aims to develop and promote the intelligence of the buildings involved, by encouraging research activities and technological innovation.

- The 3rd area of intervention is related to the reinforcement of the normative and regulatory framework for the energy certification of buildings, including, among other measures, the labelling of products and/or services related to the energy renovation of buildings, the use of energy certificates as a mechanism for access to financing or other benefits, and the qualification of the building energy rating as an incentive factor in the rental market.

- The 4^th area of intervention to address gaps in training and professional qualification in the field of building performance in terms of energy efficiency and resources, such as the reinforcement and development of curricular content and teaching projects, to align the supply in the area with the goals of promoting energy efficiency and decarbonization of the buildings involved.

- The 5^th area of intervention includes actions to tackle energy poverty, by reducing energy and other consumption costs and supporting the most vulnerable households in the energy renovation of their homes through, among other measures, the availability of financing mechanisms and tax benefits for this purpose.

- The 6^th area of intervention aims to ensure that citizens and companies, both public and private, are informed and aware of the benefits of building renovation through, among other measures, advertising and awareness-raising campaigns, as well as the use of information technology to provide and develop knowledge on these issues.

- The 7^th area of intervention aims to implement a set of indicators and mechanisms for monitoring the progress of LTRS and ascertaining the practical results in the energy performance of the buildings involved through the articulation of efforts among public entities for the creation and development of a monitoring system.

At the investment mobilization level, the strategy lists the existing funding programs and those planned for the coming years to support, among other goals, the buildings energy renovation, as well as the mechanisms to support the mobilization of public and private investment that should complement these programs. LTRS is aligned with the European Recovery Plan, whose priority initiative "Renewal Wave" includes the provision of financing instruments to increase the rate and quality of existing buildings renovation and to meet the goal of decarbonization of the building stock in Europe.

Source: Republic Diary

Consult the complete strategy [here].

LTRS Coordination Group

The LTRS comprises a set of policies and actions, establishing a roadmap with improvement measures, measurable progress indicators and indicative targets for the 2030, 2040 and 2050 horizons, linked to the national and European goals of carbon neutrality and energy transition.

The Council of Ministers Resolution provides for the establishment of a monitoring group for this Strategy and under the terms of Order No. 5172/2021, of May 21, the LTRS Coordination Group was created, which is assigned the duty of monitoring, supervision, and coordination, though, namely:

• Promote and facilitate the implementation of the guidelines contained in the LTRS, in order to achieve the respective goals;
• Evaluate the impact of policies and measures foreseen in the LTRS;
• Collect, analyse and process information on the progress indicators provided by the LTRS;
• Evaluate the implementation progress of the LTRS in accordance with no. 6 of the Council of Ministers Resolution nº. 8-A/2021, of February 3, through the elaboration of biannual progress reports;
• Review the LTRS under the terms of Nº. 8 of the Council of Ministers Resolution Nº. 8-A/2021, of February 3, with a maximum periodicity of five years;
• Develop and promote initiatives aimed at disseminating solutions and good practices among citizens and businesses in order to meet the goals of LTRS.

Depending on the information on the progress of LTRS, the members of the Government responsible for energy, infrastructure and housing decide on the need to maintain or extinguish the Coordination Group.

Source: Republic Diary | 1st LTRS Coordination Group Progress Report