Prof. Eduardo Alberto Baptista Maldonado is a retired Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto and researcher on the topic of Energy Efficiency in Buildings. He was the former president of Portugal's National Innovation Agency (ANI). Prof. Maldonado was the coordinator of the European Concerted Action for the transposition and implementation of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directives (EPBD) from 2004 to 2015 and led the task force that helped Member States define and implement net-zero energy building (NZEB) standards. Currently, his work focuses on the decarbonisation of existing buildings.

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Can you summarize why it is so important that the EU reduces energy consumption in the building sector?

Eduardo Maldonado: If we want to fight climate change and energy dependence, we need to aim at reducing energy consumption from fossil fuels everywhere. That being said, buildings account for 40% of energy consumption, and so we must make an effort to substantially reduce this impact.

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What is the main challenge in (re)constructing net-zero energy buildings at scale?

Eduardo Maldonado: The biggest challenge is affordability. Honestly, the majority of the European population cannot afford it. Europe is much older than it used to be. The percentage of people over the age of fifty is increasing and there are fewer and fewer babies being born. The age distribution is moving towards the high end, which means most people are retired, don't work or work much less, and don't have the necessary resources [to renovate their homes]. Most live on modest pensions and they can't afford significant investments to make their homes net-zero energy.

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You led a task force that helped Member States interpret and implement the net-zero-energy building requirement under the EPBD. Looking back, what were the main obstacles?

Eduardo Maldonado: We started talking about net-zero energy buildings in Europe about twenty years ago. We set the targets, but we have never met those targets. We are not going to reach the original target in three years from now. It's impossible. The European Commission opened infringement procedures against all 27 EU Member States in July 2026 for failing to fully transpose the recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2024/1275 (EPBD) into national law. None of the 27 states have met the intended targets, but the Commission hasn't made the right conditions for them to reach those goals.”

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Where do you see the gap between EU-level ambition and what's actually feasible nationally?

Eduardo Maldonado: Member States were encouraged to help citizens, but the help is not significant enough. People are still expected to spend a lot of money on renovations, but the prices in construction have been increasing faster than in other sectors. Plus, there is already a lot of energy poverty in Europe. Many people can't afford heating in the winter and air conditioning in the summer at today's prices. Prices of electricity keep going up as natural gas prices go up, independently of the increased share of “cheap renewable energy”, but at the same time people are expected to electrify their houses. We need to face the contradiction.

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How complex is it to turn an old building into a net-zero building compared to a new construction?

Eduardo Maldonado: All these issues relate to renovations of old buildings. Making new buildings net-zero energy is easy. They can't be built unless they are designed as net-zero energy. Still, it comes with challenges. There is a big lack of residential buildings in many countries. We need to build thousands and thousands of new dwellings, but to impose the net-zero principle, the buildings will certainly cost more than traditional ones. Where will this money come from? We need to consider this and balance the needs of the population. It is technically possible to build net-zero buildings. We have the research and we have the technical solutions. Right now, it's a matter of costs.

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What are the practical barriers development keeps running into?

Eduardo Maldonado: The EU's ambition is not aligned with what is feasible today. It is now 25 years since we started this initiative, and the geopolitical circumstances have changed. We need to look at the global picture. What is the purpose of having a European green island that's net-zero if the rest of the world isn't doing the same? Europe is just a drop in the bucket of emissions. Reducing our emissions without others going along isn't going to make any difference. We need to think globally, not only locally.

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Do you think the EU's targets for the renovation of buildings by 2030 and 2050 are still achievable?

Eduardo Maldonado: When it comes to the targets for 2030 and 2050, the right regulations are still not in place. Even if they were adopted this year – which I doubt – they could not produce any meaningful results by 2030. We should collectively, as Europeans, rethink our climate targets and the EPBD. Many things have changed and we need to come up with new realistic targets for net zero.

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What is the main message you would give to the EU and global policymakers gathering around the COP31 agenda “Resilient Cities”?

Eduardo Maldonado: Be serious and promise only what you know you are really willing to do. Don't accept targets just because it looks good. Be thoughtful and truthful. We should always aim at better energy efficiency, but let's do it in a realistic way, while taking economics into account. People need to think about their finances. Affordability is the key word here.

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