Offices & the Tertiary Decree
Meeting the −40/−50/−60% energy-reduction trajectory

Office buildings above 1,000 m² fall under the French Tertiary Decree: an annual OPERAT filing and an energy-reduction trajectory of −40% by 2030, −50% by 2040 and −60% by 2050. NORMAXIS supports the diagnosis, the OPERAT declaration and the works plan.

Key issues

A binding reduction trajectory.

Energy diagnosis

Baseline consumption analysis and identification of the reduction levers on the asset.

OPERAT filing

Annual declaration to ADEME and management of the reduction trajectory.

Works plan

A prioritised improvement plan to stay on the −40/−50/−60% trajectory.

Context

The office estate is where the decree bites first.

The French tertiary decree requires a measured reduction in final energy consumption across buildings above 1,000 m²: 40% by 2030, 50% by 2040 and 60% by 2050, against a reference year the owner declares. Offices make up the bulk of the affected stock, and October deadlines have made the obligation concrete rather than theoretical for many owners.

The first difficulty is the reference year. It is declared once and constrains everything afterwards, so a poorly chosen or poorly documented baseline commits the owner to a trajectory that is either unachievable or unnecessarily unambitious. Getting it right is a data exercise, not a negotiation.

Regulation

Filing, modulation and what counts as evidence.

Consumption is declared annually through OPERAT. Where the target is unreachable for reasons inherent to the activity, the volume of use, or disproportionate cost, a modulation may be substantiated, but only with a technical file, and the burden of proof sits with the owner.

Where a portfolio is large enough, the DDADUE energy audit obligation may apply in parallel, and certified energy management under ISO 50001 exempts from it while producing the data the decree needs anyway.

Going further

Related pages.

Office estate compliance draws on these pages.

Scope a project

Acoustics, energy and environmental engineering under one roof.

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