This report reviews progress achieved by European Union Member States in reaching cost-optimal levels of minimum energy performance requirements for new and existing buildings, and also for building elements. It fulfils the obligation upon the European Commission to report to the European Parliament and the Council on the use of the delegated powers referred to in Article 5(4) and Article 23 of Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings (‘the Directive’). This report will also inform the ongoing review of the Directive, which is an action point of the energy union framework strategy.

For the first time, a benchmarking framework based on the cost-optimal methodology proposed in the Directive and the Regulation was used. This enabled the comparison and combination of various energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. This work supported national authorities in their task of setting realistic minimum energy performance requirements for buildings and in preparing the ground for meeting the targets for nearly zero-energy buildings. This ultimately contributed to boosting overall ambition levels across the EU towards the technical and economic energy-saving potential in the buildings sector, also envisaged in the forward-looking strategies for building renovation published under Article 4 of the Energy Efficiency Directive.