Report on the state-of-play of building-stock data: A thorough policy analysis and mapping of existing tools at national and EU level. Deliverable 2.2. OBSERVE project

This deliverable, developed in the context of the European Commission-funded LIFE project “OBSERVE”, provides the evidence base for developing national Building Stock Observatories (nBSOs) by clarifying what national BSOs must deliver under the evolving European Union (EU)’s policy framework and assessing how ready six focus Member States (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, and Spain) are to do so in practice. The deliverable combines EU and national policy mapping- the recast of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the Renewable Energy Directive (RED), and the EU Governance Regulation- with a policy-driven indicator framework aligned with the EU Building Stock Observatory (EU BSO) and the reporting templates established under the Implementing Regulation (EU 2025/1328). It then evaluates national building-data ecosystems through structured gap and SWOT analyses across nine thematic domains, including building stock, energy performance certificates (EPCs), renovations, heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning system (HVAC) inspections, nearly zero-energy and zero-emission buildings (nZEBs/ ZEBs), building renovation passports (BRPs), smart-readiness indicator (SRI), and energy poverty, and seven analytical dimensions (availability, interoperability, granularity, timeliness, quality assurance, governance, and future development), with findings triangulated through policymaker input. Across countries, the evidence shows that the core challenge is not only whether data exist, but whether fragmented datasets (e.g., EPC registries, cadastres, inspections, permits, incentive schemes, and statistical sources) can be transformed into interoperable, quality-assured, and repeatable monitoring pipelines that support national building renovation plans (NBRPs), minimum energy performance standard (MEPS) implementation, renovation-rate tracking, and EU-level reporting. EPC infrastructures typically provide the most mature backbone, while renovation monitoring and emerging EPBD domains (BRPs, SRI, and ZEB-related monitoring) remain less operationalised. The deliverable concludes with integrated recommendations on phased and modular BSO development, minimum interoperability requirements (shared identifiers, metadata, and exchange protocols), and workflow-based quality assurance and governance arrangements. The results directly inform activities on dataset architecture, data collection and governance workflows, and quality-control and monitoring mechanisms to be tested within the pilot Member States.