Environmental Regulation 2020 - RE2020
About this good practice
According to the French Ministry of Ecological Transition, the building sector in France represents over 43% of the national energy consumption. The RE2020 is a national regulation for all new buildings and came into effect the 1st of January 2022.The difference between the previous regulation and the RE2020 is the combination of the energy, the carbon criteria in buildings and the summer comfort.
The RE2020 puts a new regulatory framework on energy consumption to improve the environmental performance and comfort.
The requirements to reach the RE2020 criterion are present from the construction phase (dynamic life cycle analysis to determine the carbon index of each material) but also at the end of the building site through the control of the consumption limits:
- a maximum heating consumption of 12 kWh/m² per year;
- a total primary energy consumption (heating, domestic hot water, lighting and electrical appliances) of less than 100 kWh/m² per year;
- an energy expenditure of 0 kWh/m² per year thanks to the production of renewable energy covering at least the needs of the house.
Main stakeholders: the French Ministry of Ecological Transition and the Centre for studies and expertise on risks, the environment, mobility and development (CEREMA), architects, engineering and design offices
Main beneficiaries: tenants, private and social landlords, local authorities, building actors and local bio-based industries, school buildings, tertiary buildings (at the end of this year
Resources needed
- There has been an investment of 100 million € for the period 2022-2026 in favour of bio-sourced materials – through industrials investments
- The practice involves all building actors specifically engineering offices that will oversee the calculations
Evidence of success
- 143 400 housings have been authorized for construction between February and April 2022 (which shows an increase of 16.4% compared to last year in terms of building permits)
- A dynamic LCA gives the opportunity to look at other more sustainable materials (e.g. panel made of Cross-laminated timber offer a carbon balance of 30% more advantageous than concrete versus only 10% in static LCA)
Potential for learning or transfer
The practice is a great learning opportunity as it includes different scopes includes in the building energy efficiency:
- It engages of all actors -the French government has put an effort to the improvement of the RE2020 by monitoring its implementation with data collecting
- The fitting in the new EU priority to carbon-neutrality by the promotion of energy sobriety and decarbonation
- The priority on building quality
- The promotion on using renewable energy sources (e.g PV installation to compensate the overconsumption of air-conditioning during the heatwave period)
- The support for bio-based and local materials
- The practice calls on all kind of building actors to include themselves in a green process towards buildings.
Further information
Good practice owner
You can contact the good practice owner below for more detailed information.