Sustainable construction

Sustainable construction and the circular economy are key tools in the energy transition. The "Sustainable Construction" unit within the General Directorate for Industry, New Technologies and Research (DG Industrie, nouvelles technologies et recherche) is tasked with bringing together the national stakeholders concerned with these socio-economic issues, which are of prime importance for Luxembourg, via a systemic and participatory approach integrating the principles of energy efficiency and renewable energy.

In a circular economy, the production and trading of goods and services, and the creation of socio-economic value, are founded on a holistic approach to managing stocks and flows of materials, taking into account the limits and the regenerative capacities of our planet. When applied to the construction sector, the principles of the circular economy favour and encourage, amongst other things:

• An approach resolutely geared towards taking account of the biological cycle: placing the needs of the user at the forefront, with a focus on human health and comfort; integrating the construction within the natural context, promoting biodiversity and reducing the impact on the soil and on linked ecosystems; using construction materials derived from renewable resources on a cascading or closed-loop basis.
• Building in such a way as to preserve, to the utmost, the value of construction materials and components (stocks) throughout their useful life; opting for modular construction methods that enable disassembly, so as to be able to recover the value of the materials used (in particular, the grey energy they contain), using healthy and environmentally friendly materials.
• Adopting a holistic attitude in respect of the entire value chain of the construction and the useful life of buildings; ensuring systemic added value and the multifunctionality of buildings or parts of buildings; managing the inflows and outflows of energy, water, air and other resources in the same spirit of retaining maximum value and mitigating environmental impacts; developing synergies with the physical environment.
• Activating IT support tools such as BIM (Building Information Modeling) and material passports, as well as innovative management and construction models such as 'product-as-a-service' and prefabrication/construction in order to enhance the productivity of the sector, especially as regards resources.

In order to implement these principles, the Department of Energy is co-developing regulatory and financial tools, training methods and modes of communication with key stakeholders. The thematic priorities are as follows:

• Reinforcing the health aspects linked to the air quality inside buildings, by putting in place a national framework of advice, follow-up and monitoring with regard to the issues involved. Those aspects will be integrated in the rules concerning sustainable construction, in particular LENOZ certification and PRIMeHouse grants.
• Contributing to the updating of the "Guide de la construction durable" (Guide to Sustainable Construction) for Luxembourg, in close collaboration with the Resource Centre for Technologies and Innovation for the Building Industry (CRTI-B, Centre de Ressources des Technologies de l'Innovation pour le Bâtiment), the National Council for Sustainable Construction (CNCD, Conseil National pour la Construction Durable) and the Order of Architects and Consulting Engineers (OAI, Ordre des Architectes et des Ingénieurs-Conseils): integrating the principles of the circular economy concerning deconstruction, modularity, smart flow management, digitisation, etc. An initial version of the guide is available in German on the website Wissensportal für nachhaltiges Bauen in Luxemburg | noba.
• Working on ways to reduce the energy intensity of traditional construction materials and promoting the use of bio-sourced materials, in particular wood as a vector for storing CO2, in collaboration with Luxinnovation's CleanTech and Wood clusters.
• Collaborating with national public-sector promoters such as the Public Building Administration (Administration des Bâtiments Publics), the Fund for the Urbanisation and Development of the Kirchberg Plateau (FUAK, Fonds d'Urbanisation et d'Aménagement du Plateau de Kirchberg), the Housing Fund (Fonds du Logement) and the National Affordable Housing Company (SNHBM, Société Nationale des Habitations à Bon Marché) with a view to carrying out major sustainable construction projects, in particular by launching public procurement procedures designed to prompt circular initiatives in the construction sector.
• Involving municipalities as public-sector bodies in the promotion of sustainable construction and, more generally, of the circular economy, acting as crucial intermediaries in dealings with citizens and regions, in particular through the Climate Pact 2.0, in close collaboration with the agency Klima-Agence Luxembourg.
• Fostering innovation in the construction sector through collaborations with Research, Development and Innovation (RDI) partners, such as the University of Luxembourg, the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (LIST) and Neobuild, and promoting the transfer of new skills to the sector, in collaboration with the Institute for Training in the Construction Industry (Institut de Formation Sectorielle du Bâtiment), the Competence centres, the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts (Chambre des Métiers), the House of Training, the National Institute for the Development of Continuing Vocational Training (Institut National pour le développement de la formation professionnelle continue), etc.

As well as dealing with these sectoral activities, we handle the implementation of Luxembourg's circular economy strategy, in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Biodiversity, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Viticulture (Directorate for Consumer Protection) (for further information, see the LetsGoCircular portal).

We are there to assist public and private-sector stakeholders with regard to any questions concerning projects for the implementation of the circular economy in Luxembourg and at the level of the Greater Region, especially in the construction sector, and concerning healthy buildings.

On 14 June 2023, on the occasion of a press conference attended by representatives of the CNCD, the National Council for Sustainable Construction (Conseil national pour la construction durable), the Energy Minister, Claude Turmes, presented the "Low-carbon construction roadmap" for Luxembourg.

Energy passport: taking account of greenhouse gas emissions throughout the life cycle of buildings

Luxembourg's "low-carbon construction roadmap", developed by the Ministry of Energy and Spatial Planning, as then constituted, and by the Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development, sets out the methods and tools needing to be developed in the coming years in order to transpose the new provisions of the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD). This provides that the future energy passport of a building must take account of greenhouse gas emissions throughout its life cycle, in particular emissions linked to the production of construction materials (grey energy) and emissions from construction sites.

The Energy Minister, Claude Turmes, stated: "a great deal of work has already been done in Luxembourg to reduce direct emissions from buildings, through measures to promote energy efficiency and renovation, as well as the production of renewable energies. Thanks to the 'Low-carbon construction roadmap', the complete life cycle of buildings will be taken into account in the construction sector:  from construction materials to building sites to the deconstruction of buildings."

Ambitious objectives for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the construction sector

The roadmap is a first step in a process for the implementation of an ambitious set of rules, extending over the next 4 to 7 years, which also forms part of the measures contained in the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP).

It is important to understand that the sectoral greenhouse gas emissions referred to in the NECP under the heading "residential and tertiary buildings" derive primarily from the utilisation phase of buildings, with ambitious targets for reducing them between now and 2030 (-64% compared to 2005) – hence renovation of the existing stock of buildings constitutes an important priority.

The roadmap proposes that the supplementary emissions be determined over the entire life cycle of the building concerned, with part of those emissions originating from beyond the borders of the Grand Duchy, not least in the case of construction materials manufactured abroad. A further challenge is posed by the attribution in the NECP of emissions from the "transport" and "energy and manufacturing industries, construction" sectors to activities on building sites, including the transportation of excavated soil.

These results will make it possible to identify the important levers for decarbonising the construction sector in Luxembourg, whilst at the same time helping to achieve the national objectives of the NECP.

Close collaboration with the construction sector

One of the key aspects of the action to be taken is close collaboration with all the public and private players involved in the sector, covering the entire gamut from the manufacturers of materials to deconstruction and demolition companies, and taking in architects, engineers, artisans, entrepreneurs and promoters. All these actors are represented in the National Council for Sustainable Construction (CNCD, Conseil national pour une construction durable), in addition to the main public-sector actors in charge of the different elements of the construction process, making the CNCD a key interface for rolling out the low-carbon construction roadmap.

On 20 September 2023 the CNCD held an initial conference on decarbonising the construction sector, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Energy. Further information concerning the conference, attended by over 300 participants, is available via the article Vers une construction zéro carbone (infogreen.lu) and/or the  key messages from the CNCD Conference on decarbonisation (Pdf, 7.44 Mb).

At the conference, a series of follow-up seminars were announced, with a view to enabling the topics involved to be discussed in more detail. The first of those seminars, attended by 40 representatives from the sector, was held on 30 November in the premises of the Ministry of Energy, the subjects discussed being carbon footprint methodologies and analysis of the life cycle of buildings. The presentations made on that occasion are likewise available in the section entitled "More information – Publications"  

Low carbon construction roadmap – Seminar 0 – Presentations (30/11/2023) (Pdf, 5.07 Mb)

Low carbon construction roadmap – Seminar 0 – Report (30/11/2023) (Pdf, 884 Kb)

Une collaboration étroite au niveau européen

Grâce à l’affiliation du CNCD au World Green Building Council (CNCD), le Luxembourg a pu se positionner avec la feuille de route construction bas carbone comme partenaire dans le projet européen INDICATE LIFE. Nous pouvons donc profiter du support de partenaires européens expérimentés et de l’échange de connaissances avec d’autres pays membres de l’EU, ce qui contribe à la qualité et la rapidité de la transposition de l’EPBD (refonte).

Grâce à l’affiliation du CNCD au World Green Building Council (CNCD), le Luxembourg a pu se positionner avec la feuille de route construction bas carbone comme partenaire dans le projet européen INDICATE LIFE. Nous pouvons donc profiter du support de partenaires européens expérimentés et de l’échange de connaissances avec d’autres pays membres de l’EU, ce qui contribe à la qualité et la rapidité de la transposition de l’EPBD (refonte).