Siemens Financial Services Ltd
Retrofi tting non- residential buildings: bringing the opportunity within reach
Decarbonising non-residential buildings stock
Toby Horne Smart
Infrastructure Financing Partner Siemens Financial Services UK
worldwide will play an important part in meeting 2030 and 2050 climate targets. Comprehensive retrofits of commercial buildings can reduce their energy use by up to 40%, but this is currently not happening anywhere near the scale needed to meet climate goals, according to a report released by the American Council for an Energy-Effi cient Economy (ACEEE). Even greater offi cial pressure is widely seen as the key
to accelerating progress. Mandatory standards for energy effi ciency in buildings already exist in Europe, the UK, and China, with strong enforcement regimes and non- compliance penalties. For instance, minimum building energy performance standards in the UK mean that it is now unlawful to let (lease) properties in England and Wales that do not meet an ‘E’ level of energy performance.
Additionally, in April 2024 the European Commission
formally adopted a directive mandating members to cut building emissions and energy use. For non-residential buildings, member states must renovate 16% of their worst-performing buildings by 2030 and the 26% worst- performing buildings by 2033. Apart from such legal obligations, initiatives to reduce
carbon emissions through lower energy consumption are commercially compelling on two fronts.
Ethical and commercial benefi ts of decarbonisation Firstly, companies are increasingly issuing green bonds to raise capital, making it necessary to implement carbon footprint reduction initiatives. Alongside this, businesses and consumers are increasingly looking to buy from more environmentally friendly companies making green credentials a key competitive advantage in global markets. Secondly, in a world that has recently experienced a
major fuel crisis, reductions in energy usage save money. Reducing energy consumption, through enabling digital technology, has therefore become a major driver of investment in ‘smart’ commercial buildings, ‘smart’ hospitals, ‘smart’ campuses and ‘smart’ public buildings.
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