A critical review of policy and multi-criteria indicators for scaling residential building resilience in Portugal’s EPBD implementation

Abstract

Extended abstract 7-228-26The transformation of Europe’s building stock is central to climate mitigation and energy security under the Renovation Wave and revised EPBD. In Portugal, Recovery and Resilience Facility funding has enabled socially oriented renovation programmes such as Vale Eficiência, successfully mobilising households and addressing energy poverty. However, the national policy remains dominated by medium and light interventions, limiting progress towards deep renovation and the long-term climate resilience of the residential stock. This highlights the need to reassess policy and monitoring frameworks beyond energy-only metrics.This study reviews the orientation and coherence of Portugal’s residential energy efficiency policies in relation to EPBD implementation and emerging approaches in other EU Member States. A comparative analysis of stakeholder survey responses was also conducted to evaluate the relative prioritisation of indicators across Energy Efficiency (EE) promotion programmes and sustainability certification frameworks. The results represent preliminary findings derived from Portuguese stakeholders and were used to identify the most common and relevant indicators; a second phase will extend the analysis to stakeholders in other EU Member States to enable a broader comparative assessment of the Portuguese case. The results reveal a clear dichotomy in performance measurement. EE programmes strongly prioritise operational metrics, with energy savings (mean 4.86) and emissions reduction (mean 4.57) ranking highest, alongside social objectives such as mitigation of energy poverty (mean 4.43). However, lifecycle dimensions remain weakly represented, including embodied impacts (mean 2.86) and circularity potential (mean 2.71). In contrast, sustainability certifications demonstrate a broader environmental scope, prioritising embodied impacts (mean 5.0), circularity (mean 4.67), health impacts (mean 4.5), and indoor environmental quality (mean 4.33), while placing limited emphasis on income-based equity (mean 1.33).These findings indicate that while Portuguese EE policies perform strongly in social accessibility and operational energy savings, governance approaches remain oriented toward numerical energy targets rather than the depth and quality of renovation required for 2030 objectives. Continued reliance on primary energy indicators risks overlooking lifecycle sustainability, embodied carbon, and climate adaptation. The study highlights the relevance of multi-criteria assessment frameworks integrating energy, environmental, economic, and social dimensions to support deep, resilient, and people-centred renovations.Read the full abstract.Download presentation.