Sustainable Buildings and Subsidy Policy: Challenging the Energy Transition Context

Reduction in energy demand, application of circular economy principles and implementation of sustainable policies are the key pillars of sustainable development. Buildings and the construction sector are significant consumers of both energy and resources. Therefore, a crucial policy objective is to mediate investments in sustainable renovations to make buildings more energy-efficient, less water-reliant and constructed with less waste. The EU Taxonomy, the bible of sustainability, sets the technical criteria for defining sustainable investments. However, do the criteria introduce a new approach, or is it more of another European attempt to improve the governance of sustainability? This article evaluates the impact of the EU Taxonomy regulation on Czech subsidy policy. It uses a comparative analysis of building renovation programmes with a focus on energy efficiency conditions. The article presents a correlation model and mathematical formula for calculating the impact rate. This can be widely used to evaluate financial tools in terms of sustainability. The study reveals that building renovation programmes have made significant progress in reducing the energy demand and managing the waste streams during the construction phase. However, progress in water management has been limited. The impact of sustainability policies on investments in building renovations is noticeable. Moreover, the level of technical detail of European policies is constantly increasing, and this trend is likely to continue. This will have a further effect on national public administration and budgets.