ATP sustain accompanied Austria’s first EU taxonomy-compliant existing object

During the cooperative project involving ATP sustain, the ÖGNI, and the VIG, the building in downtown Vienna was selected for a pilot project, the aim of which was to carry out a sample check of the EU taxonomy requirements for an existing building.

Welche Anforderungen müssen denn erfüllt werden?
Die EU-Taxonomieverordnung 2020/852 dient als Klassifizierungssystem für Kapitalströme, mit dem Ziel, Wirtschaftsaktivitäten gezielt in eine „grüne“ Richtung zu lenken. Hierbei sind für den Gebäudesektor Anforderungen in sechs Umweltzielen definiert: Klimaschutz, Anpassung an den Klimawandel, Schutz der Wasserressourcen, Kreislaufwirtschaft, Umweltverschmutzung, Biodiversität und Ökosysteme sowie ergänzende Mindestanforderungen wie die Einhaltung der OECD-Leitlinien und der UN Guiding Principles. Je nach Einhaltungsgrad der Kriterien, wird das Objekt als transformationsbedürftig oder taxonomiekonform eingestuft.

Bestandsgebäude, die nach der EU-Taxonomieverordnung offengelegt und berichtet werden, müssen neben den allgemein gültigen Mindestanforderungen auch die Kriterien der ersten beiden Umweltziele Klimaschutz und Anpassung an den Klimawandel erfüllen. Zudem muss in einem der beiden Umweltziele ein wesentlicher Beitrag geleistet und damit strengere Anforderungen eingehalten werden. In dem Pilotprojekt „Singerstraße 8“ fiel die Wahl des wesentlichen Beitrags auf das erste Umweltziel, den Klimaschutz – man spricht von „Annex I“.

I. Climate protection
The focus of the first environmental objective is compliance with the threshold value of NRPE (non-renewable primary energy), as set out in current climate protection legislation. According to Appendix I, this threshold value must be undercut by at least 10 %. This requirement is a serious challenge for existing buildings.
The selected pilot project is served by Vienna’s municipal district heating system, which operates as a highly-efficient cogeneration system, as defined by current climate protection legislation. This means that the threshold value for the property is significantly undercut, which clearly represents the necessary ‘special contribution’ to the meeting of climate protection objectives.

II. Adaptation to climate change
The attempt to achieve taxonomy-compliance also required an analysis of the main climate risks facing the location. In the event of an increased risk, measures must be openly taken to protect the building and its users. As well as investigating today’s risks it is also necessary to investigate risks for 2030 and 2050 in terms of the known RCP (representative concentration) of 2.6, 4.5, and 8.5. These RCP scenarios provide information about the relationship between increases in radiation and climate protection measures.
Scenario RCP2.6 combines extensive measures and a low increase in radiation whereas RCP8.5 is “business as usual”, with no special measures but with a strong increase in radiation.

The relevant climate risks were analyzed by ATP sustain and summarized in a Climate Risk Report. We couldn’t identify any major risks to the location in the required period. According to current knowhow, the building is subject to no particular danger and can be classified as taxonomy-compliant.

How was the analysis carried out?
The building’s ability to meet the relevant criteria was investigated in a pre-check. On the basis of this we drew up a Taxonomy Report about the property, in which the relevant proofs were presented in context and the level of compliance was revealed. In a final step, we submitted the entire report to the ÖGNI for independent, third-party verification in order to confirm this optimum resilience of the building qualities.