On April 23, 2024, in Bratislava, Slovakia, the ceremonial Plenary Meeting of the Roundtables was held to officially announce the signed agreed Roadmaps and Action Plans. The meeting was the culmination of a several-year process of creating the Roadmap called Green Deal for Buildings. 48 measures were identified, the implementation of which will lead to the fulfillment of the objectives of the European Green Deal. More than 70 representatives of industry, construction, education, state and self-governing institutions, experts in increasing energy efficiency and in the field of financing met here. Most of these stakeholders also participated in the Roundtables meetings held in Slovakia in 2022-2024. At the 11 Roundtable-ceremonial the results of stakeholder consultations and the results achieved were evaluated.
The discussion focused on all the key topics and challenges of today’s rapidly changing society. The construction and energy sector is in the spotlight and facing major challenges like never before. With around 80% of existing buildings in the EU still in use in 2050 and 75% of buildings in the EU being energy inefficient, there is a need to retrofit them to zero-emission buildings. The impact of innovations in the sector, the transformation of the construction sector, the possibilities of sustainable investments in clean energy and Slovakia’s strategy in supporting innovations and the necessary cooperation between sectors in the introduction of innovations and new technologies, the importance and impact of digitization and innovations for the education system and the impact on businesses and companies, these were the main discussed topics.
Another important point of discussion was the integration of renewable energy sources, the high energy intensity of buildings, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, low labour productivity in the construction sector, the shortage of skilled labour, the high cost of materials and securing the necessary private and public funding for the renovation and construction of buildings this are significant challenges. To tackle them, cooperation is needed between all actors in the value chain, policy makers, financial and educational institutions. These were also the main topics discussed at the Ceremonial Roundtable.
The discussions were led by the moderator Lenka Buchláková, a well-known economic analyst and journalist of ta3-news television. During the opening ceremony, important guests and representatives of all relevant stakeholders presented their opening speeches – Rector of the Technical University in Košice Peter Mesároš, Chairman of the First Building Savings Bank Jiří Plíšek, Director of the Innovation Department of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency Martin Svoboda, President of the Association of Construction Entrepreneurs of Slovakia Pavol Kováčik, Director of the ADAX Fund Dávid Fogad, Executive Director of APES Radim Kohoutek, independent expert from EEFIG Rod Janssen, Stanislav Laktiš from the Department of International Cooperation of the Slovak Innovation and Energy Agency, and Jiří Karásek from the SEVEn the Energy Efficiency Center.
This Ceremonial Plenary Meeting launch the Roundtables as a permanent multilateral discussion forum as a permanent stakeholders body for further discissions, facilitating delivery on the Roadmaps objectives, monitoring implementation and regular review of the Roadmaps and also present the work plans after expiry of the project.
