What are the different advocacy strategies around the EPBD recast and what could be the impact on the Council’s vote?

Details

Supervisors

Fontan, Clément ; Defraigne, Jean-Christophe

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master de spécialisation en entreprises et politiques économiques européennes

Abstract

In a context where the climate issue is increasingly in the news, the European Union has decided to take action by adopting several packages of legislation to reduce the continent's CO2 emissions in anticipation of the famous Green Deal. The European Union is unique in its legislative process, which is increasingly interactive and transparent, with interest groups trying to push legislation in the direction that suits them best. This lobbying is analysed in this study in relation to a directive currently under review, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, which would require each Member State to renovate 15% of its least energy-efficient buildings by 2030 and to achieve a carbon-neutral building stock by 2050. The most contentious issues were analysed in turn, drawing on the advocacy strategies of a number of stakeholders. These analyses were then used as a basis for hypothetically establishing the positions of each of the member states. The conclusions that emerge are that, despite the lack of noise surrounding this directive, the stakes are high and advocacy strategies are more than likely to prevent the directive from passing, or at any rate to reduce the standards that were initially set high.