The European Mortgage Federation will certify, using a European label, energy efficient mortgages. With this initiative, banks will be awarded to offer mortgages that comply with the criteria established by the European Union, aimed at fostering sustainability and slowing decarbonization.

The European Mortgage Federation has created a label to certify energy efficient mortgages. This label will certify that the mortgages comply with international sustainability criteria. The label will be accompanied by the development of an infrastructure of gathering, processing and dissemination of data that help banks combine sustainability with the risks of offering loans. The measures hope to guarantee the reliability of the mortgages and that they are given to housing projects, new or renovated, which fulfill the requirements. This way, the final objective is to increase sustainable living and the decarbonization of the sector.
What are energy efficient mortgages?
They are loans with a mortgage guarantee given for the purchase of efficient homes or to renovate houses or buildings in order to reduce their energy consumption. The qualifications that have access to request this type of mortgage are the A and the B.
The objective of energy efficient mortgages is the financing of housing that respects the environment. People that ask for a mortgage to buy a new house which complies with the European sustainability standards or those who renovate a home or building to make it more sustainable, will have an economic advantage over a mortgage for the purchase of a normal home. The banks that commercialize this type of mortgage in Spain are Triodos Bank, Banco de Santander, Caja Rural de Navarra, Cajamar, Unión de Créditos Inmobiliarios (UCI), Bankia and BBVA.
The European label to certify them is just another measure to strengthen the global trend of energy sustainability. Improvement of energy efficiency in the construction sector is of vital importance, because 40% of all the CO2 emissions are generated by housing. To give an idea of the current state of housing stock all over Europe, of the 247 million houses, more than 220 million were built before 2001. The European Mortgage Federation estimates that the investment to comply with the minimums of the European Union is 180,000 million euros annually.
In Europe, the implementation of this type of mortgage is being carried out very slowly because there are still so many details to specify. It is forecasted that in a few years, these mortgages will acquire much more prominence.