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The improvement of energy efficiency of products is a key pillar of climate and energy strategy in the European Union (EU). The first EU product policies were adopted in the late 1970s, and they have evolved to become a coherent set of implementing measures under framework directives that harmonise and refine the regulatory process. After years of weak implementation, considerable progress in terms of scale and ambition has been achieved in the last decade. In 2020, product mandatory measures covered 50% of the EU total final energy consumption, leading to 46 Mtoe energy savings. This paper describes the available policy instruments to promote energy efficiency and remove the market barriers hindering the penetration of the best performing technologies. It offers a review of the progress made over these last 40 years of EU product policies, describing the Energy Labelling, the Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS), the Ecodesign Directive and the voluntary agreements (EU Ecolabel and Green Public Procurement). Moreover, it highlights the remaining challenges and provides policy recommendations to further exploit the EU potential to save energy from products. • Energy efficiency in products is a key pillar of EU climate and energy strategy. • Despite 40 years of EU product policies, their scale has only improved since 2010. • In 2020, mandatory measures covered 50% of the EU final energy consumption. • By 2030, savings expect to reduce the final consumption by 17%. • Policy orientation to further exploit the energy savings of products is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given the significance of carbon emissions from the existing building stock, this paper aims to provide an international comparative analysis of pioneering policies on minimum energy efficiency standards in the Scottish, English/Welsh, Dutch and French commercial real estate sectors. These are the four national policy regimes to employ these policy instruments to date with varied timelines spanning from 2009 to 2050. The methodological approach employs a document review of policy texts produced by policy makers and other stakeholders. The four policy regimes are evaluated in terms of their policy design focussing on minimum performance standards, forward guidance, scope and exemptions. A key finding is that, given the range of intervening factors, side-effects and uncertainties, there are difficult choices in striking a balance between phasing implementation, providing forward guidance and adjusting policy in response to evaluation. Whilst it was initially expected that most European Union jurisdictions would default to an Energy Performance Certificate related standard, our findings show that there has been a shift towards standards that are linked to actual rather than modelled energy consumption. However, for leased stock where the owner may have limited operational control, the separation of owners' responsibility for compliance and the users' responsibility for operations makes designing consumption-based instruments more challenging. It is concluded that a central issue in policy design has been the trade-off between minimising the financial costs to property owners and occupiers of complying with performance thresholds and maximising reductions in energy consumption. There is growing recognition that regulatory economies of scale may be achieved by targeting large properties which allows for a large proportion of the total area of the stock to be covered whilst exempting a large proportion of transactions or properties. • Policy makers use MEES to improve the energy efficiency of the worst building stock. • Significant policy divergence is observed across the four national policy regimes to date. • MEES should be based on actual energy consumption rather than design-based metrics. • The separation of ownership and use is a barrier to MEES linked to actual consumption. • Regulatory economies of scale may be achieved by targeting large properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• EU policy efforts on energy efficiency in buildings stared in the 1970s in response to the oil crisis. • The first comprehensive EU policy was the SAVE directive in 1992, introducing policy actions still relevant today. • A major step forward was the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive in 2002 and its subsequent amendments. • Mandatory energy performance standards are progressively converging towards near zero energy buildings. • Additional policies and financing are needed for the full decarbonisation of the building stock. The reduction of energy demand in buildings through the adoption of energy efficiency policy is a key pillar of the European Union (EU) climate and energy strategy. Energy efficiency first emerged in the EU energy policy agenda in the 1970s and was progressively transformed with shifting global and EU energy and climate policies and priorities. The paper offers a review of EU energy policies spanning over the last half century with a focus on policy instruments to encourage measures on energy efficiency in new and existing buildings. Starting from early policies set by the EU in response to the Oil Embargo in the 1973, the paper discusses the impact of EU policies in stimulating energy efficiency improvements in the building sector ranging from the SAVE Directive to the recently 2018 updated Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and Energy Efficiency Directive. The review explores the progress made over the last 50 years in addressing energy efficiency in buildings and highlights successes as well as remaining challenges. It discusses the impact of political priorities in reshaping how energy efficiency is addressed by EU policymakers, leading to a holistic approach to buildings, and provides insights and suggestions on how to further exploit the EU potential to save energy from buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]