The European Commission (EC) has issued the first guidelines on the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). Brussels indicated that from the beginning of 2025, new fossil fuel furnaces, including gas, will no longer be subsidized.
“The guidelines (C/2024/7161) clarify the requirement set out in Article 17(15) to discontinue, by 1 January 2025 at the latest, all financial incentives for the installation of new stand-alone boilers powered by fossil fuels,” reads the announcement on the EC website .
New guidelines from Brussels
As written, “no grants, preferential loans or tax incentives, such as reduced tax rates, may be provided for the purchase, installation and commissioning of new stand-alone boilers fueled by natural gas, oil or coal, regardless of whether the installation is part of a renovation project “or not”.
“No public authority at national, regional or local level may provide economic and/or public support to purchasers, installers and third parties for the installation of such boilers,” Brussels stressed.
The statement added that “the guidelines also specify the forms of incentives that may be continued.”
“For example, hybrid heating systems that combine a boiler with a heat generator using renewable energy can only be incentivized if the share of renewable energy is significant; and the incentive provided should be proportional to the share of renewable energy,” it explained.
It also said that any incentives already approved may be maintained” and “incentives that have already been granted at national, regional and/or local level and transferred to an individual beneficiary may continue to be paid”.
Building Directive
To promote renovations, the European Commission has prepared a new, amended directive on improving the energy performance of buildings, adopted this spring. The regulations are part of the EU's Green Deal strategy and are intended, among other things, to: help Europeans reduce their energy bills and trigger a wave of renovations across the EU. The directive also assumes that in the coming years new buildings will be fully independent of fossil fuels and, for example, fuel stoves will be replaced with green energy sources.
From January 2028 all new public buildings will have to be fully independent of fossil fuels. On the other hand two years later this rule should also apply to everyone other new buildings. Traditional heating methods previously used in buildings, such as fuel stoves, will also have to be gradually phased out in favor of installations using green energy, including solar energy.
Of course – as EU officials emphasize – taking into account the conditions of individual countries.
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