European Parliament Agreement: All Homes to be Climate Neutral by 2050

Environmental principles, known as ESG, have been essential for entrepreneurs in the real estate sector for many years. Compliance is increasingly demanded not only by customers, but especially by banks. With so-called green projects, they can get credit more easily and more often on more favorable terms than in conventional construction.

That’s why some builders and investors already have a clear idea of ​​how the rules currently being agreed with the European Union will change the shape of not only Czech buildings. According to them, new buildings owned, operated or used by public authorities should have zero emissions from 2028. From 2030 then all new buildings and from 2050 absolutely all buildings except monuments.

“The European regulations will be particularly difficult for developers,” said Erik Janovský, investment manager of the group Mint Investments, which runs a real estate fund focused on rental housing in new buildings.

“It is good that some developers are already using such materials, such as recycled aggregate in the Vysočanský mill. These are things that contribute to the carbon independence you want,” said the Janovské project, which is being built for Mint by the company Metrostav.

Another company that uses recycled materials is Skanska Residential. A few years ago, the Swedish company developed the so-called Rebetong, ie 100% recycled concrete, in collaboration with the technology company ERC-Tech. Compared to the standard version, it saves around eight percent of carbon dioxide emissions.

Skanska uses it, for example, when it builds apartments in Modřany in Prague. “At the Modřanský sugar factory, we are implementing innovations that we expect will become the standard for residential construction in the future,” said project manager Petr Dušta. At the same time, thanks to technology, buildings in Modran should reduce their water consumption to about half of the Prague average. Their roofs are also equipped with photovoltaic panels.

Mint also plans to work with photovoltaics. And it also focuses on other energy details. “For example, we dealt with one developer who proposed heating using electricity under the floor. However, according to the label monitoring this factor, the demand for energy for such a building would be too high. So we said that we prefer to use a primary source of heat, ie a heating plant,” explained Janovský.

According to Janovský, triple glazing that prevents heat leakage or external blinds will also be an important part of modern houses. These are mostly used in the summer, when the sun burns into the glass parts of the buildings. Janovský mentions that cooling indoor spaces in a way that they stay more complicated than heating them in winter.

It is not yet clear how the new regulation will be reflected in real estate prices. For example, according to Janovský, it will depend on the specific form of related Czech laws.

Current ecological projects are not much different in price from the rest of the market. For example, the aforementioned Skanska sells apartments in Modřany for prices of around 135,000 per square meter. The average across Prague, including the most attractive central parts of the city, is around 150,000 crowns per metre.

Over time, all buildings must adapt to requirements similar to new buildings. From 2050, even the oldest will become climate neutral. According to the estimates of the Minister of the Environment, their reconstruction will cost about 1.5 trillion kroner.