Green houses, roadmap at risk: 15,000 professionals specialised in sustainable construction missing

By the end of the year, Italy, like all EU member states, will have to present the first draft of the renovation programme for its housing stock, as established by the "Green Houses" directive launched by the European Union. Then, by 29 May 2026, Italy will have to adopt all the legislative decrees that will put the directive into practice and make it possible to meet all the deadlines set out in the plan. Green Building Council Italia (Gbc Italia), the Italian Society of Environmental Medicine (Sima) and the Italian Academy of Biophilia (Aib) are, however, sounding the alarm: the roadmap risks being slowed down and delayed due to the shortage in the real estate sector of around 15 thousand professionals highly specialised in sustainable building.

Gbc Italia, Sima and Aib point out that from 1 January 2028 for new public buildings and from 1 January 2030 for all new buildings, the standard will be 'zero emissions'; for residential buildings there will then have to be a reduction in average primary energy consumption of 16% by 2030 and 20-22% by 2035, while for non-residential buildings there will have to be a renovation of 16% of the worst buildings by 2030 with an extension to 26% by 2033. By 31 December 2040 there will have to be a complete elimination of fossil fuel boilers.

A real revolution in the real estate sector that, according to the latest estimates, will cost Italy about 85 billion euro by 2030 just in terms of energy requalification, generating a turnover of 280 billion euro between direct and indirect impacts and induced activities (source: Centro Studi geometri italiani), considering that in Italy more than 60% of residential buildings are pre-1976 (pre-first law on energy saving), therefore in need of deep requalification, and that according to the report presented a few days ago by ENEA-CTI in 2024 45.3% of residential buildings will be in the least performing energy classes (classes F-G).

The transformation of real estate into green buildings requires new skills along the entire supply chain, from design to construction sites, via management and finance, but at present there are serious difficulties in finding professional figures specialised in sustainable construction, stress Green Building Council Italia (GBC Italia), Alessandro Miani (Sima) and Rita White (AIB).

In some sectors, such as electrical plant engineering, there are even peaks of 75% of specialised needs that are not available on the market, and in total it is estimated that Italy currently lacks about 15,000 'green' professionals (including experts in design, quality and health in buildings, sustainability reporting, decarbonisation of the built environment, professionals accredited for Leed, Breeam, Well, Gbc certification standards, etc.) with the real risk of delays and slowdowns in implementing the European plan.