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Luxembourg: A Policy-Led Approach Caught Between Green Growth and Affordable Housing

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Green Building Transitions

Part of the book series: The Urban Book Series ((UBS))

Abstract

Luxembourg, known for its economic wealth linked to the finance industry, has shown significant efforts to transform its building sector. This chapter traces the emergence of sustainable building in Luxembourg since the late 1990s. Green building in Luxembourg is strongly driven by progressive government regulations and policies that illustrate different understandings of and approaches to greening. The chapter distinguishes between two policy approaches: (1) green growth and (2) social housing and urban sustainability. The first consists of a sustainability perspective that is based on the compatibility of environmental and economic objectives. During the 2000s, green building was primarily understood through energy efficiency to be achieved at the scale of individual buildings. This focus was broadened over time towards eco-technologies more generally that are promoted as strategy to further diversify and to position Luxembourg’s economy internationally. The second, less dominant approach moves beyond technological fixes and the scale of individual buildings towards more holistic approaches to urban sustainability through social housing. While government initiatives and (partly) the private sector’s efforts have gained considerable momentum, public participation and civic engagement in green building are rather ephemeral, compared to other city regions.

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Change history

  • 29 July 2018

    Errata to: Julia Affolderbach and Christian Schulz, Green Building Transitions: Regional Trajectories of Innovation in Europe, Canada and Australia Doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2

Notes

  1. 1.

    When considering final energy consumption shares across sectors, the bulk goes to the transport sector, followed by industry, households and the service sector (STATEC 2016a). Buildings are thus considered as a key area for action due to their cross-sectoral relevance.

  2. 2.

    The Greater Region is a geographic region including the Saarland and Rhineland-Palatinate in Germany, the French Lorraine region (now part of the Grand-Est region), Luxembourg and Wallonia (together with the French Community and German-speaking communities of Belgium).

  3. 3.

    http://www.luxembourg.public.lu/fr/investir/secteurs-cles/technologies-environnementales/index.html.

  4. 4.

    Following the 2016 edition and almost 30 years of existence, the Oekofoire will be discontinued.

  5. 5.

    Since the merger of the two main research centres in Luxembourg in 2015, the Research Centre for Environmental Technologies has been integrated within the Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology.

  6. 6.

    LENOZ is a voluntary sustainability certificate for residential buildings in Luxembourg (Lëtzebuerger Nohaltegkeets-Zertifizéierung).

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  1. Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Luxembourg, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg

    Bérénice Preller

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  1. Bérénice Preller
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Preller, B. (2018). Luxembourg: A Policy-Led Approach Caught Between Green Growth and Affordable Housing. In: Green Building Transitions. The Urban Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77709-2_8

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