Passports and the EPBD Recast

The recast Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Directive (EU) 2024/1275, provides the EU framework within which renovation passports operate, by requiring member states to introduce passport schemes and by setting out, in general terms, what a passport should do: provide a staged roadmap for a specific building, tailored to its characteristics, that leads toward deep renovation over time. The directive sets the direction and the broad content expectations, while leaving the detailed scheme design, including format, issuer qualifications, cost, digital format and links to funding or building logbooks, to each member state to decide through national law.

That division between EU framework and national implementation is the key to understanding passports in practice. Reading the directive alone will not tell a homeowner what a passport costs, who can issue one, whether it is voluntary or linked to a transaction, or how it interacts with national EPC registers, because those answers are national, and they will emerge as each member state transposes the directive and publishes its scheme.

The recast also places passports within a wider set of building energy measures, including EPC reform, minimum energy performance standards for the worst-performing buildings, solar requirements for certain buildings, and building renovation plans at national level. Passports are therefore not an isolated document; they are one tool among several that member states use to move their building stock toward lower energy use and lower emissions over time, and their role may differ depending on how a member state combines those tools.

Timing is another national matter. Transposition and scheme introduction take time, and member states may pilot passports, link them to existing advisory schemes or roll them out in phases, so a homeowner in one country may be able to obtain a passport now, while a homeowner in another may find only a pilot or a predecessor advisory product. Checking the current national position, rather than assuming a uniform EU launch, is essential.

To check the position for a specific building, start with the national energy agency, building ministry or EPBD implementation body for the member state concerned, and look for published scheme design, issuer lists, guidance and any pilot results. Note whether the scheme is described as voluntary, incentivised or linked to funding, transactions or minimum standards, since that linkage changes the practical value of obtaining a passport at a given time.

Also check whether existing advisory roadmaps, retrofit plans or building logbooks in that country are recognised as passport predecessors or will be converted, since a roadmap obtained before a formal scheme launches may or may not carry over. That question should be asked of the national body or a qualified local professional, not assumed from a brochure.

In the EU, the directive is the common framework, but national transposition is where passports become real documents with real issuers, formats and costs, and member states differ on all of those points. Some may build on established energy advisory systems, others may create new digital passport platforms, and the pace and design of those choices will shape homeowner experience more than the directive text alone.

In the UK, the EPBD recast does not apply as UK law, and renovation passports in the EU sense are not a UK statutory scheme, though UK retrofit plans and EPCs serve related purposes under UK law. UK homeowners should therefore not expect an EU passport to be available or recognised for a UK property, and should instead look at UK retrofit planning products for their nation.

A common mistake is quoting the directive as if it were a ready-to-use passport scheme, with a price, a format and an issuer, when those details are still national decisions. Another is assuming that a passport obtained in one member state will be recognised in another, when passport formats, methods and registers are national and may not transfer across borders.

A third mistake is treating the recast as if it settled all renovation questions, when it also leaves major choices, such as how passports link to funding, to minimum standards and to building logbooks, to national policy. Those linkages, once published nationally, will matter more to a homeowner than the directive headline.

Keep any national scheme guidance, issuer information, pilot or predecessor roadmap documents, and correspondence with the national body or a local professional about passport availability. Those papers show the scheme position at the time of planning, which matters because schemes evolve during transposition.

Ask a qualified local professional or the national implementation body: has this member state published its passport scheme, who can issue a passport, what does it cost, what format does it take, and how does it link to EPCs, funding and building logbooks. National answers, not directive summaries, decide what a passport means here.