EU breaks ground on its first net-positive emissions building in Seville

The European Commission begins construction of its first net-positive emissions building in Seville, Spain, this summer. A symbol of sustainability and innovation, the new Seville site of the Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) will be the first building fully embodying the New European Bauhaus principles.

President von der Leyen is set to speak at the opening ceremony, marking a significant step in the EU's sustainable architecture efforts.

The project aims to go beyond carbon neutrality by offsetting CO₂ from the atmosphere, primarily through generating solar energy that far exceeds its own operational needs. Inspired by Seville's traditional architecture, it will be the first EU institutional building of this scale to achieve net-positive emissions. The construction is expected to last two years.

Commissioner for Startups, Research and Innovation, Ekaterina Zaharieva, Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy, Jessika Roswall, and representatives of the Spanish government will also take part in the event, which will be streamed online from 12:00 CEST.

Startups, Research and Innovation Commissioner Ekaterina Zaharieva (pictured) said: "Thanks to an amazing interinstitutional collaboration, this is the Commission's first visible example of the New European Bauhaus, an initiative that is giving us the opportunity to transform society - from small businesses to disadvantaged neighbourhoods - making it more sustainable and improving European's way of living. We can see today what the real path to innovation looks like." 

The JRC site was inaugurated in Seville in 1994 and hosts more than 400 international workers, providing technical information and data in support of key European policies like innovation, economic modelling, fiscal policy, digitalisation and artificial intelligence.

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