The Ministry of Development and Technology has published technical screening criteria to determine the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as making a substantial contribution to climate change mitigation and to determine whether that economic activity does not cause significant harm to any other environmental objective.
Acquisition and ownership of buildings
- Criterion 1 for significant contribution to climate change mitigation:
- In the case of buildings erected before December 31, 2020. the building is among the 15% most efficient buildings in the country or region in terms of primary energy demand (PED), which must be supported by appropriate evidence that includes at least a comparison of the energy performance of the building with the energy performance of buildings constructed in the country or region before 31 December 2020 and distinguishes at least between residential and non-residential buildings.
- Residential buildings with primary energy demand less than 76.59 kWh/(m2*year) and non-residential buildings with primary energy demand less than 118.26 kWh/(m2*year) can be considered as meeting the above criterion.
Construction of new buildings
- Criterion 1 for significant contribution to climate change mitigation:
- The primary energy demand determining the energy performance of the building achieved as a result of the construction works is at least 10 % less than the threshold specified for the requirements for nearly zero-energy buildings in national measures implementing Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (282).
- In order to determine whether the above criterion is met, the calculated value of the indicator defining the annual demand for non-renewable primary energy EP for heating, ventilation, cooling and preparation of domestic hot water, and in the case of public buildings, collective housing, production buildings, farm buildings and warehouses – also for built-in lighting should be determined and compared with the limit value specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location, reduced by 10%.
More information is available here.
Below is a brief explanation.
The Taxonomy itself (solutions provided for by regulations Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 June 2020 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment, hereinafter referred to as "Regulation 2020/852") is related to the implementation of the European Green Deal strategy. The implementation of this strategy requires redirecting financing from environmentally unfriendly investments to those that are ecological and less harmful to the environment – investments of this nature will be promoted through dedicated, preferential solutions and mechanisms.
The criteria published by the ministry result from Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2021/2139 of 4 June 2021 supplementing Regulation (EU) 2020/852 of the European Parliament and of the Council by establishing technical screening criteria for determining the conditions under which a specific economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation or adaptation, and for determining whether that economic activity does not cause significant harm to any other environmental objective, hereinafter referred to as "Regulation 2021/2139". This Regulation contains technical screening criteria to determine the conditions under which an economic activity qualifies as contributing substantially to climate change mitigation. The text of the Regulation is available here.
According to Regulation 2020/852, in order for an activity to be considered organic, it must meet several requirements:
- make a significant contribution to achieving at least one of the six environmental objectives;
- not cause significant harm to any environmental objective;
- meet the technical qualification criteria;
- be conducted in accordance with minimum guarantees.
In case of activities involving the purchase of real estate and the exercise of ownership rights to these real estates, regarding the requirement to "make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation", Regulation 2021/2139 provides that in the case of buildings constructed before 31 December 2020, the building must have an energy performance certificate of at least class A. Alternatively, the building must be among the 15 % most efficient buildings in the country or region in terms of primary energy demand (PED), which must be supported by appropriate evidence that includes at least a comparison of the energy performance of the building with the energy performance of buildings constructed in the country or region before 31 December 2020 and distinguishes at least between residential and non-residential buildings.
As the energy performance certificates in force in Poland the energy performance class of buildings is not specified, and consequently it is not possible to obtain a certificate energy performance class A, the ministry published guidelines, specifying the alternative condition (the building must be among the 15 % most efficient buildings in the country or region in terms of primary energy demand (PED), which must be supported by appropriate evidence that includes at least a comparison of the energy performance of the building with the energy performance of buildings constructed in the country or region before 31 December 2020 and distinguishes at least between residential and non-residential buildings), on the basis of which it will be possible to assess the fulfillment of the criterion.
In the scope of activity involving the construction of new buildings, regarding the requirement to "make a significant contribution to climate change mitigation", Regulation 2021/2139 stipulates that the primary energy demand determining the energy performance of a building achieved as a result of the construction works is at least 10 % less than the threshold specified for the requirements for nearly zero-energy buildings in national measures implementing Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (282). The energy performance certificate of a building is a post-construction energy performance certificate. Ministry clarified this criterion by pointing out that in order to determine whether this criterion is met, the calculated value of the indicator defining the annual demand for non-renewable primary energy EP for heating, ventilation, cooling and preparation of domestic hot water, and in the case of public buildings, collective housing, production, utility and storage buildings – also for built-in lighting should be determined and compared with the limit value specified in the Regulation of the Minister of Infrastructure of 12 April 2002 on the technical conditions to be met by buildings and their location, reduced by 10%.