The energy consumption of buildings causes about 30 percent of total emissions. It is not possible to achieve Finland's goal of carbon neutrality without significantly improving the energy efficiency of the existing building stock. The EU has also set a goal of doubling renovation construction, and by 2050, the building stock in the entire EU region must be emission-free.
Our goal
- We will increase the level of repair investments and catch up on the repair debt. Repair investments should be increased almost twice in residential buildings and traffic routes, and up to three times in water supply networks.
- A wide-ranging competence center for renovation construction will be established in Finland, which will improve the industry's productivity and accelerate the green transition.
- A strong increase in EU funding in renovation construction will be made possible by reforming funding structures and utilizing funding more broadly.
- The guarantee conditions related to ARA's basic improvement loans will be renewed, for example by lowering the guarantee fee and extending the guarantee loan period, so that the planned renovation investments of housing associations can be implemented.
- Let's raise the level of the household deduction and expand it to also cover repairs carried out by the housing corporation.
Condition of built assets
The need for repair construction grows every year. Maintenance and repair investments should be increased significantly in buildings, traffic routes and water supply networks. This is necessary in terms of reducing emissions, smooth everyday life and reliability of maintenance.
According to VTT's calculations, in order to meet the goals of the EU's basic improvement strategy (Renovation Wave) to improve the energy efficiency of buildings, Finland should invest 1–1,5 billion euros in renovation construction annually.
Our real estate stock is repaired far too little, as only 1–2 percent of it is renewed each year. The amount of housing repair debt increased from 24,9 billion euros to 77,5 billion euros from 2000 to 2021.
The repair debt of the railway network is three billion euros. For example, in 2021 there were a total of more than 800 road and railway bridges in very poor or poor condition.