Design or renovation of buildings and living spaces that are not only ecologically responsible, but also financially viable in the long term.
The dimension of Sustainability within the New European Bauhaus (NEB) paradigm identifies the environmental and economic perspectives as two main drivers to promote a holistic approach for the design or renovation of buildings and living spaces that are not only ecologically responsible, but also financially viable in the long term. This approach encourages the development of innovative solutions that minimise environmental impacts, while also generating economic value, thus fostering a symbiotic relationship between ecological stewardship and economic prosperity.
The environmental perspective of the sustainability dimension needs to address issues related to energy, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and other non-energy related environmental impacts from the built environment.
The economic perspective of sustainability for projects in line with the NEB initiative should follow the three levels of ambition introduced in the Compass: (i) to repurpose, (ii) to close the loop and (iii) to regenerate. The economic perspective of sustainability addresses two main aspects: (i) a more efficient use of scarce resources and the use of less money in a more effective way, and (ii) the investigation and collection of diverse potential sources of existing public funding and available private funding to support projects.
| S.1 | Minimise the use of fossil fuels in the built environment | Energy efficiency first principle is the main guiding principle, complementing relevant EU objectives in sustainability, climate neutrality and green growth, becoming particularly significant in the construction sector to achieve buildings that exhibit a very low energy use from conventional or renewable energy sources. Hence, it is essential to minimise the primary energy consumption of buildings and maximise the use of renewable energy sources in line with the provisions of the recent recast EPBD. |
| S.2 | Maximise the use of sustainable energy in the built environment | Once a building has achieved a high energy performance with low energy demand, the next target is to maximise the use of sustainable energy, according to the following two objectives:
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| S.3 | Minimise greenhouse gas emissions from the built environment | The target intents to minimise whole life cycle GHG emissions that constitutes a pillar of EU policies to control the impacts of climate change. Accordingly, the target aims to achieve the two following objectives:
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| S.4 | Enhance sustainable mobility in the built environment | |
| S.5 | Minimise non-energy related environmental impacts to air and water | |
| S.6 | Minimise non-energy related environmental impacts from the built environment | |
| S.7 | Achieve the best possible greening of the public sector in terms of its economic involvement in the sustainability of the built environment | |
| S.8 | Achieve the best possible greening of the private and financial sector in terms of its economic involvement in the sustainability of the built environment | |
| S.9 | Promote circular economy in the built environment |