The International Standardization Organization (ISO), is the highest level of standardisation accessible worldwide.  Mid September 2026 took place in Berlin the joint meeting of the two key ISO standardization committees dealing with the Energy Performance in Buildings: ISO TC 163 “Thermal performance and energy use in the built environment” focusing on the building factory and civil engineering and ISO TC205 “Building environment design” focusing on acceptable indoor environment and practicable energy conservation and efficiency strongly related to HVAC.

Jointly with the meeting, a workshop titled “Shaping the Future of Building Energy Performance Standards" was organised. EPB (Energy Performance of Buildings) standards are shaping the next generation of high-performance, low-carbon buildings. In many countries, standards are the policy support, bringing the policy objectives into the field. In Europe, standards are closely linked to recent EU directives, e.g. the Energy Performance of Buildings Directives. To get a level playing field for different technical solutions, a “common language” for the expression of the energy performance is of critical importance for the Heating, ventilation, air-conditioning and cooling industry and professionals (HVAC). Around 120 experts from all over the world attended the workshop.

REHVA, the European association of HVAC professionals, and its spin-off the EPB center, are strongly involved in European and international standardization. The ISO workshop was organised by Dick van Dijk (EPB center). Among the five presentations, three presentations were made by EPB center and REHVA. Jaap Hogeling (EPB center), opened the workshop with its presentation explaining the holistic set of EPB standards, Dick van Dijk (EPB center)  presented the Open source software tools which may help to remove the barrier for using and understanding the EPB standards, Johann Zirngibl (REHVA vice president) explained the European heating and cooling strategy which is a new challenges for the built environment and therefore creates the need for a common language and relevant key performance indicators based on standards.