​​​​​What is the EU Building Stock Observatory? Why was it set up?

The European Union's buildings, residential and non-residential, are one of the key sectors for the energy transition towards a climate neutral economy in 2050. They are currently responsible for about 40% of final energy consumption and about a third of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions.

The energy performance of the building stock can be improved through the renovation of existing buildings, the construction of new buildings to low energy consumption and low emission standards, and the use of more renewable energy. However, because the building stock is complex and the data available is scattered or incomplete, it is challenging to have sufficient fact-based evidence for policymaking, and for monitoring progress.

The EU Building Stock Observatory (BSO) was created as a one-stop-shop aiming to fill this need and provide a better understanding of the energy, emission, social and activity patterns of the EU building stock through a reliable, consistent and comparable dataset.

An ultimate challenge will be to transform the Building Stock Observatory from a data tool to an EU data hub.​

The BSO was launched in 2016 as part of the Clean Energy for all Europeans package (link below). DG ENER started a consistent revamping and updating process in 2022 – with the support of DG DIGIT and through a contract managed by CINEA. The first new version went online in June 2023, and the newest update with an improved user interface and data availability was just launched on 11 March.

Can you give some examples of how it's used?

The BSO is structured in two big sections: BSO Database and BSO Factsheets (links below).

The BSO factsheets provide quick facts in the form of the most relevant indicators regarding building stock, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, social indicators related to energy poverty and a detailed breakdown of energy consumption in households by main uses such as space heating and cooling, hot water, appliances and lighting. The user can select a Member State or the EU as a whole and all this information appears in a one-pager that can be downloaded and reused as a pdf.

The BSO database is a place for more skilled data users where every dataset can be viewed per topic, year and country, or for the EU as a whole. Once data domains, subjects, countries and years are selected, the data is presented in relevant tables, graphs and maps, with references to data sources. Downloads of data and graphs is also possible.

For advanced data users, the download of the whole BSO data set in the form of an excel file is also available. A brief user manual is already available, while a video tutorial on how to navigate everything will come soon.

Can you take us through some of the novelties of the recent update?

Everything is new thanks to the recent update. The user experience and data visualisations are significantly improved, and more combinations between available indicators are possible. The datasets have been updated and expanded with information about occupancy, tenancy type, social aspects related to energy poverty and many others.

What were the challenges of this project?

BSO is a complex project combining data collection from credible sources, aggregation, quality control and visualisation in meaningful ways. Therefore, there are several challenges, some of them already addressed and others still on the road to being addressed.  

First of all, there's the challenge of working in a multidisciplinary team. We need to match DG ENER's needs with the IT developments coordinated by DG DIGIT, based on the findings, guidance and data provided by a CINEA-coordinated expert consortium.

A second big challenge is the data collection from various sources, cross-checking the figures and aggregating them in a coherent and comparative way. Reliability of data is a main priority and challenge.

On top of that, there are parallel dialogues with data owners, notably Eurostat, the European Environment Agency, the JRC and other relevant DGs and potential data providers.

Last but not least, fulfilling the requirements for a Commission website is a challenge in itself. Also maintaining it, since the Observatory is growing and we plan several updates a year and a gradual increase in indicators and available data. However, we plan to simplify the process by gradually introducing automatic updates.

What's in store for the future?

The Observatory's role will become more prominent together with the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive recast, just adopted by the European Parliament. The BSO will be the EU repository for the main data from national databases on the energy performance of buildings, and the main place where the Commission will report annually on the progress on energy performance of buildings in the EU. This implies that in the upcoming years the Observatory will be further developed in order to cope with all this. The ultimate challenge will be to transform the BSO from a data tool to an EU data hub, to a bigger, and more relevant instrument supporting the policymaking process at Member State and EU level. So stay tuned - the best is yet to come.​​