Environmental Groups Urge EU to Maintain Ambitious Standards for Building Products Amid Threat of Weakening Regulations

The German environmental organization, Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), along with other civil society, academic and business groups, are calling on all Members of the European Parliament to support an ambitious and ecologically focused revision of the EU Construction Products Regulation. The EU’s construction sector is responsible for half of the raw material and water consumption and a third of waste in the bloc. Conservative forces in the European Parliament are reportedly seeking to water down the proposals, which include requirements for manufacturers of building products to provide information on their environmental impact, and mandatory ecological procurement criteria. The DUH is urging EU officials, including Germany's Building Minister Klara Geywitz, to push for a complete decarbonisation and circular economy in the construction sector. The organizations claim that current construction practices account for 40% of Germany's CO2 emissions, with building materials alone responsible for half of all emissions over a building's lifecycle.