“It’s a wonderful directive, but in the end who pays?” Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti thus explained Italy’s vote against the definitive adoption of the “green homes directive”, the European Union measure which aims to make the building stock zero-emission by 2050. Our country , together with Hungary, is the only one that has expressed itself against the adoption of the measure, citing as its main concern the economic impact that an extraordinary building redevelopment plan will have on public finances. A fear resulting above all from the recent experience of the Superbonus, which as of 31 March 2024 produced an overall cost to the State of over 122 billion euros. During the legislative process, some MEPs tried to ask for the creation of an ad hoc fund to help governments support the investments necessary to achieve the objectives of the directive. A request that ultimately did not find space in the final text of the provision. Also because – as the rapporteur of the directive, Ciarán Cuffe, explained a year ago in an interview with Open – the tools are already there: «There are many funds that Italy can draw on. If anything, governments have to decide how much money to ask for and how to spend it.”
How much do redevelopment interventions cost
For an apartment
First of all, we need to answer a question: how much do the interventions necessary to improve the energy performance of your home cost? One of the most reliable estimates is the one contained in the report The value of living, created by Cresme, Symbola Foundation, Ance and European Climate Foundation. The report included a simulation of the cost of a redevelopment project to upgrade a 120 square meter apartment in a large condominium from class G to class D. In this case, there are two most effective interventions to make the apartment more efficient. The first route involves replacing the gas boiler with a heat pump and replacing all the fixtures. The total cost is €23,605, of which €6,100 for the heat pump and €17,505 for the new windows. The second way to get to energy class D involves thermal insulation on the walls, double painting, replacement of all the fixtures and the installation of a new condensing boiler. In this case the total cost is €48,464, of which almost half (€23,800) goes towards the thermal coat.
For a single-family house
If a single-family house is considered instead of an apartment, the transition from class G to class D becomes more expensive. In this case, the report simulation The value of living foresees three possible paths. The first involves the simple installation of a biomass winter air conditioning system, costing 19 thousand euros. The second option involves the installation of a heat pump and the creation of thermal insulation on the walls, for a total of 55,420 euros. Finally, the third hypothesis of intervention: thermal insulation on the walls, thermal insulation on the covering (the roof) and replacement of all the windows. Final cost: 85 thousand euros.
All the funds that Italy can draw on
Now the other question: where can the funds necessary to carry out all these interventions on a national scale be obtained? The Italian government has various options available. The first, now no longer viable, was to draw on Pnrr funds. Some countries, such as Ireland, have chosen to dedicate part of the money received from Next Generation Eu to finance the energy requalification of buildings, while Italy, which received 191.5 billion euros (the highest figure among all EU countries), has chosen to invest in other areas. One of the institutions that governments can turn to to finance restructuring interventions is the EIB, the European Investment Bank. It is, in fact, a credit institution that provides loans on favorable terms for all those projects that support EU objectives, with particular attention to the ecological transition. Then there is the Social Fund for the climate, a new instrument recently introduced by Brussels which has a treasure chest of 65 billion dollars to be spent between 2026 and 2032. Among the interventions for which these funds can be requested, law on the European Parliament website, also includes “investments in building renovations linked to energy efficiency”. Finally, there are the European Union’s structural funds, the main instrument available to EU countries to support investments for economic development and sustainable growth. On this front, however, Italy has always struggled a lot. If we consider the resources allocated between 2014 and 2020, our country managed to use just 62% of the resources allocated, the second lowest figure in the entire European Union after Spain.
The necessary investments
To all these tools must be added the resources that individual states and local authorities can allocate. In 2020, well before the new European directive on the energy efficiency of buildings was approved, the European Commission estimated that 275 billion euros of investments were needed, in addition to those that already exist, to achieve the emission reduction objectives set for 2030. Currently, buildings are responsible for 36% of greenhouse gas emissions and 40% of energy consumption in the entire European Union. Acting on the real estate stock, therefore, is an essential step to respect the commitments made on the climate. According to a late 2023 report from Buildings Performance Institute Europe, EU countries are far from reaching the objectives set for the next few years. In 2020, overall investments for the redevelopment of properties in EU countries amounted to 1,771 billion euros, 41.2% less than what would be needed to reach the climate targets set by Brussels.
The economic advantages
The last aspect to take into consideration is that redevelopment interventions also generate positive externalities. According to ANCE – the national association of building constructors – investments in construction equal to one billion euros generate an added value of one billion one hundred million. Not only that: the impact in terms of employment is 15,132 new jobs created. As Fabrizio Fasanella wrote on Linkiesta, the new European directive could be good not only for the environment, but also for the economy. A discussion that applies both to the country system and to individual families. Going up two energy classes, in fact, allows a saving of 40% on the bill, equal to approximately 1,067 euros in 2022 costs.
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