Dr. Josephina Lindblom:

I will make several points. One question concerned public procurement. In the new proposal for the energy efficiency directive, which contains articles on the public procurement of buildings, it is made clear that it should encompass all public buildings. That is right. It is no longer just concerned with governmental buildings, as before. Equally, if we are going to talk about any kind of low-hanging fruit, then it should involve public buildings. They should really lead the way with public procurement in this regard. At the European Commission, we are developing green public procurement criteria based on levels. These criteria, of course, will very much link into the entire carbon discussion we are having. This will be not just in the context of new buildings but also for buildings being renovated. This is an important aspect. It could drive demand and awareness, as well as skills and knowledge in the sector.

I take this opportunity to stress an interesting French study.

It looked at typical renovation cases in different parts of France and examined how whole-life carbon can be reduced or minimised in those renovation projects without necessarily having to do a fully-fledged life cycle assessment. If the focus is limited to, let us say, ten standard renovation projects, what would the renovation project have to do in order to reduce the whole-life carbon as opposed to if they just did any kind of renovation? The study has some interesting results which can be implemented throughout the country. I am suggesting that could be something interesting to look at in Ireland. The French authorities have realised that because of the sheer number of renovations they want to happen, they expect the embodied carbon will in total be double that of the embedded carbon from new buildings. That is not per project but on a macro level. They want to have a lot more renovation projects as opposed to new-build projects.

I agree with what has been said regarding sunlight. Within the framework levels I have talked about, through which we can assess and report on building performance, there is an indicator for lighting. The Senator is right that it plays an important role both for the environment and for the health and comfort of the occupants of buildings.

There was a question about whether we will be playing with different numbers in 2027 and 2030. Those are the two years that are mentioned in the Commission proposal on the energy performance of buildings directive. What we have there for 2027 and 2030 is that it will be necessary to assess and report. We will not include limit values. We should know more by then but we will not come up with a whole-life carbon limit value at that point at time, at least not as it looks today. By that time, it will be required to assess and report on those and we will start to actually generate data.

The proposal also suggests that buildings should come with energy performance certificates when they are being sold or rented. There should also be an indication as to whether buildings have gone through this assessment and reporting of whole-life carbon because, as I said, the proposal suggests we start with larger buildings and gradually take on the whole building stock. This EPC should flag from the beginning if whole-life carbon has been taken into account or not.

As to the question on European heritage skills, I apologise but I do not follow that topic so I do not know. I can, of course, put the committee in contact with relevant colleagues of mine but it is not an area in which I have expertise.