In early January, the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission published a Working Paper entitled ‘Identifying macro-objectives for the life cycle environmental performance and resource efficiency of EU buildings’.  This Working Paper is linked to the Commissions Communication on Resource Efficiency opportunities in the Building Sector, adopted in 2014.  This communication identified the need for a common EU framework of indicators for the assessment of the environmental performance of buildings. 

In mid 2014, the European Commission published a Communication which focused on resource efficiency opportunities in the building sector (COM 2014/0445). Initially, this communications was due to focus on “sustainable buildings”.  Unfortunately, this was not the case as not only was the title of the final modified, but also the focus of the content which stood squarely in the environmental segment of sustainability. Society and economy appeared, regrettably, to have fallen by the wayside.