Every minute, a building in Europe is destroyed – not by natural disaster, but by human hands, and House Europe wants to stop this destruction and make renovation the new norm, demanding new EU laws to protect affordable housing and the climate!
House Europe writes:
The buildings sector currently operates in a system that trains us to see risk instead of potential, and to assume that new is always better than old. It promotes new construction, making it not only less profitable but more difficult to renovate and transform. You can fix it! This is why HouseEurope! demands a Right to Reuse, based on four key pillars:
(I) Tax Reduction: We demand VAT exemptions for building renovations and reused materials to stimulate the renovation market and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector.
(II) Fair Evaluation Criteria: We demand mandatory EU-wide standards for assessing not only the risks but also the potential of existing buildings, as these are essential to unlock their value, and drive investment in renovation.
(III) Holistic Approach: We demand the introduction of intertemporal life cycle assessments to reveal the full CO? impact of buildings—from past emissions to those in the present and future—and give them a value.
(IV) Renovation Subsidies: We demand appropriate financial resources to support renovation projects across Europe and to create fair market conditions for both old and new buildings.
HouseEurope! is more than an initiative – it is a registered non-profit advocating for a fundamental value-shift in the building sector – socially, ecologically, and economically. You can fix it! It takes 30 seconds and costs you nothing!: https://eci.ec.europa.eu/052/public/#/screen/home
