Sustainable buildings and development

Sustainable buildings and development (EU Law)—overview

Sustainable development

Sustainable development—definition and application at European Union (EU) level outlines the definition and application of sustainable development at EU level. It covers the Brundtland definition and the three pillars of sustainable development, sustainable development in the EU treaties, sustainable development in EU policy and sustainable development in EU law. It was produced in partnership with Ardea International.

Greening the EU buildings sector

The following Practice Notes cover key provisions contained in or updated by the Fit for 55 climate package of legislation linked to improving the overall sustainability of the EU’s building stock:

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EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2024/1275 (recast)—snapshot—provides a snapshot of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, as recast in 2024 as part of the European Green Deal’s ‘Fit for 55’ climate legislation package. The primary aims of the recast EPBD are to set targets for zero-emission and nearly zero energy buildings and to establish and implement minimum energy performance requirements for new and existing buildings. This Practice Note covers the conditions for classification of buildings as ‘zero emission’ or ‘nearly

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Latest EU Law News

EU Law weekly highlights—21 November 2024

This week's edition of EU Law weekly highlights includes analysis on the European AI Office’s draft General-Purpose AI Code of Practice, the Court of Appeal of the Unified Patent Court decision confirming its international jurisdiction, the judgment that 3D inhaler trade mark cannot be restored by Boehringer, the ruling that Ukraine border service cannot get an EU trade mark for its war slogan, Meta being fined €798m for tying marketplace ads to Facebook, and the role of acceptable use policies in AI, In addition, this week the 2025 EU annual budget was agreed, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation to shut down European Online Dispute Resolution platform, adopted a ban on forced labour products in Union market, and approved the certification framework for carbon removals, the European Parliament endorsed the postponement of the deforestation rules, the European Commission proposed a single digital portal for posted worker declarations, and the EU Cyber Resilience Act and EU Listing Acts were published in the Official Journal.

ECHA updates progress on PFAS restriction proposal evaluation

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A ‘Kwantum’ leap decision? Court of Justice on harmonising EU copyright protection for non-EU designs (Kwantum v Vitra)

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COP29 round-up—20 November 2024 (Urbanisation, Transport and Tourism)

On 20 November 2024, the tenth day of the 29th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP29) focused on urbanisation, transport, and tourism, marking the first time the COP Presidency dedicated a day to tourism. The Presidency Stocktaking Plenary discussed several topics, including the new collective quantified goal on climate finance (NCQG). In addition, the UN Climate Change Executive Secretary, Simon Stiell, delivered a speech on nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and the COP29 Presidency launched declarations on tourism and urban resilience.