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Sustainability

Get Level(s) right, let’s make it a success!

By Pauline Pelous
February 24, 2020

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said that the Green Deal is Europe’s ‘man on moon moment’ — for such an ambitious mission Level(s) could be the tool to win the global space race to net zero carbon buildings.

Knauf Insulation’s Experience Center (KIEXC) in Slovenia has been contributing research to a two-year European Commission Level(s) pilot project which is designed to make buildings more sustainable throughout their lifecycle from the cradle to grave.

Last week at a Commission conference in Brussels, sustainable building experts met to discuss vital next steps for Level(s), examining data and outcomes from all 82 pilot projects across Europe that had contributed research, including KIEXC.

Using the results, Joint Research Center (JRC) experts discussed how each indicator could be improved in order to take the project mainstream such as clarifying reporting formats and process, improving guidance and ensuring clearer technical language.

Contributing to the event was Knauf Insulation’s Product and Buildings Sustainability Manager Jean-Pierre Pigeolet, who said: “The Level(s) framework is important because in Europe less than 1% of buildings are comprehensively sustainability assessed throughout their lifecycle despite the fact that buildings represent 40% of all energy, 36% of CO2 emissions and a third of all waste comes from construction sector.”

Level(s) is critical to tackling these issues because it aims to mainstream the environmental assessment of buildings by making the whole process easily accessible to everyone.

Knauf Insulation is supporting and promoting this initiative as “it paves the way for exciting legislation that inspires a new generation of sustainable buildings. We are very proud of our assessed KIEXC building in Slovenia,” said Jean-Pierre. “And we hope that Level(s) ensures buildings such as the KIEXC become a new normal for Europe in future rather than the exception. Let’s make Level(s) accessible to everyone!”

• The Level(s) document ‘Identification of Horizontal Themes and Technical Updates’ is open to written feedback until March 20 at https://ec.europa.eu/eusurvey/runner/LevelsSurvey2020

• For more information visit:

https://susproc.jrc.ec.europa.eu/Efficient_Buildings/documents.html