How Can the Energy Transition Be Achieved in the Buildings Sector? Action areas for a socio-ecological transformation (2025)

Emissions in the buildings sector have hardly decreased over recent years. The buildings sector remains responsible for around 40 percent of Germany’s greenhouse gas emissions, if all upstream emissions are included. If Germany is to achieve climate neutrality by 2045, the heat transition therefore needs to be accelerated. At the same time, questions on the social sustainability and challenges of the process must also be addressed to help people be engaged and become active promoters of the heat transition.

A Discussion Paper from the “Energy Systems of the Future” (ESYS) initiative provides an overview for decision makers of how this can be achieved. It deals with the following questions, among others: 

• To what extent can the focus on buildings with the lowest energy performance ratings (Worst Performing Buildings) accelerate the heat transition? 
• In what ways can social sustainability be achieved within the heat transition? 
• Who are vulnerable groups to the challenges of the heat transition and what mitigation measures are in place for vulnerable groups? 
• How can the quality, accessibility and availability of data in the buildings sector be improved? 
• What conditions need to be in place for a successful heat transition?

Findings of the publication

The ESYS Discussion Paper reveals that Worst Performing Buildings – those with the lowest energy performance rating – represent a vital lever in achieving a rapid reduction in greenhouse gas emissions in the buildings sector.

Here, social and societal factors should also be considered, as the heat transition has a direct impact on everyday life and the development of energy and housing costs. This applies to owner-occupiers and, to an even greater degree, tenants.
In order to formulate and evaluate measures for the heat transition, the data situation in the buildings sector has to be improved. To make this possible, more high-quality data must be collected – and here energy certificates represent a good solution. Improvement is also needed in the provision of this data, e.g. through an energy certificate database.

The ESYS Discussion Paper summarises the action areas drawn up by experts in the Analysis Paper “Die sozial-ökologische Energiewende im Gebäudebereich. Worst Performing Buildings, soziale Na-chhaltigkeit und Datenbasis” (only available in German).”. Both publications use findings from two short studies commissioned by ESYS – conducted by the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW), non-profit and Buildings Performance Institute Europe (BPIE).