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SOMFY ACTIVITES

SOMFY

Somfy est le leader mondial de l’automatisation des ouvertures et des fermetures de la maison et du bâtiment grâce à son offre de motorisations et de points de commande, et un acteur clé de la maison connectée.

Lobbying Activity

Response to Heating and cooling strategy

7 Oct 2025

SOMFY welcomes the European Commissions initiative to develop a comprehensive Heating and Cooling Strategy and emphasizes the need of fully integrating the building sector into this framework. We specialize in automation and control of building openings and solar shading (shutters, blinds, screens). Our solutions reduce energy demand, enhance comfort, and strengthen Europes climate-adaptable building stock. In this context, adapting the building stock is critical to respond to the climate emergency, safeguard public health, and guarantee affordable, healthy, and sustainable housing. Rising temperatures make it critical to maintain thermal comfort, resilience, and protection for the most vulnerable, while balancing both winter and summer energy needs. We encourage the European Commission to consider the following priorities in the Heating & Cooling Strategy: - 1. Tackling rising energy needs for cooling and considering avoided emissions: The Strategy should set clear and measurable efficiency indicators, and explicitly consider avoided emissions from passive cooling solutions, which are often excluded from incentive schemes (such as white certificates) - 2. Better integrating passive cooling in building codes and urban planning strategies: Integrating passive and hybrid cooling approaches into building codes and urban planning frameworks, and promoting their uptake across existing the building stock, will help manage demand growth. - 3. Tackling energy poverty and strengthening climate resilience: Renovation programs should move beyond a sole focus on winter thermal comfort and prioritize passive measures that are fast to deploy, scalable, and resource-efficient, addressing both extreme heat and cold while improving health, comfort, and long-term climate adaptation. To ensure the Heating and Cooling Strategy delivers on its ambitions, SOMFY calls on the Commission to: - Develop clear efficiency indicators and systematically account for avoided emissions from efficient heating and cooling systems. - Recognize automated shading, passive cooling, and hybrid systems as essential components of energy-efficient renovation. - Support white certificate and similar incentive schemes to accelerate efficiency improvements. - Promote urban planning that integrates passive and hybrid cooling to improve thermal comfort. - Ensure strategies are inclusive and climate-adaptable, addressing both summer and winter comfort for vulnerable households, through renovation programs. We invite the European Commission to refer to additional details in the attached document and remain available for any further questions or clarifications.
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Response to European strategy for housing construction

18 Sept 2025

SOMFY welcomes the European Commissions housing construction strategy and emphasizes that adaptation and renovation of existing buildings must stand alongside new construction as central pillars of resilience. With 85% of Europes buildings expected to still be in use in 2050, ensuring they remain fit for purpose requires immediate, scalable action. Europes building stock faces a dual challenge: the urgent need for more affordable homes and the growing threat of extreme heat. Without swift adaptation, too many buildings risk becoming unliveable heat traps undermining health, safety, and decent living conditions. SOMFY is specialized in the automation and control of building openings and solar shading solutions (shutters, blinds, and screens). Its solutions support the European Commissions ambitions to ensure that Europes homes remain safe, decent and affordable for decades to come. SOMFY advocates for a multi-solution renovation pathway that addresses the diverse types and specific local characteristics of Europes existing building stock. 1. A need to adapt the existing building stock. Renovation and rehabilitation of buildings is the most appropriate and economically viable approach, providing measures that are faster to implement, less resource- and energy-intensive, and highly effective. 2. A need for a territorial approach. Climate risks and construction methods vary across regions. The building sector is deeply anchored in its local context and construction methods vary significantly between regions. Construction as well as renovation adaptation strategies must follow a territorial approach, reflecting projected temperature trends in each region. Adaptation measures complement new construction efforts, considering local specificities and conditions. They are particularly vital for vulnerable populationselderly, children, and people with health conditionswho are most exposed to overheating and related health risks. Our pragmatic approach based on a chain of available solutions to adapt to each specific context As part of the broader building value chain spanning construction, renovation, and adaptation SOMFY contributes to the European Commissions ambition of ensuring decent and accessible housing. Its pragmatic approach builds on a range of readily available solutions that can be adapted to each specific context. - Sober, no-regret measures that can be installed without altering the existing structure for example, shading systems (screens, blinds and shutters), and passive ventilation techniques; - Low-energy cooling solutions, such as ceiling fans and active ventilation techniques; - Insulation strategies, both internal and external, to reduce thermal transfer and enhance building efficiency; - Air conditioning systems, which, when intelligently controlled and combined with other measures, offer precise thermal comfort in extreme conditions. Our policy demands: To meet the goals of the EU housing construction strategy, including affordable and decent housing, summer thermal comfort solutions must be recognized as essential for adapting buildings to rising temperatures and systematically integrated into EU adaptation and construction frameworks. SOMFY proposes the following measures to the Commission: - Recognize automated solar shading and passive cooling as essential components of energy-efficient renovation; - Promote adaptable, quick-to-deploy solutions that improve comfort and reduce energy use - Ensure that renovation strategies are inclusive, climate-resilient, and health-conscious; - Direct public and private investment towards high impact adaptation sectors that deliver affordable and scalable solutions. These solutions, often faster and more cost-effective to implement, enable the rehabilitation of existing building stock rapidly, avoiding costly overhauls or new constructions where unnecessary, and should be syst
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Response to European climate resilience and risk management law

1 Sept 2025

SOMFY welcomes the European Commissions initiative and emphasizes the need to fully integrate the building sector into this framework. Adapting the building stock is essential to tackle the climate emergency and meet the urgent demand for affordable, healthy, and sustainable housing and buildings. With rising temperatures, priority must be given to keeping buildings suitable, ensuring decent living and working conditions, and social resilience. This is no longer merely a matter of comfort, but of preparedness, particularly for the most vulnerable. 1) Coping with the specificities of the existing building stock. - Adapt the existing building stock. Europes buildings remain largely unprepared for increasingly frequent and intense heatwaves. While deep renovations are necessary in some cases, they are not always feasible due to high costs, logistical complexity, and time constraints. Buildings have an average lifespan of several decades, creating a pressing need to rehabilitate existing structures with solutions that are faster, less resource- and energy-intensive, and effective. - Adopt a territorial approach. SOMFY aligns with the EUs recognition that climate risks and adaptation needs vary across regions. The building sector is deeply local, and construction methods differ significantly. Adaptation strategies must follow a territorial approach, reflecting projected temperature trends. The EU should act as a catalyst by providing technical guidance and forums to exchange best practices. Extending the EU Adaptation Mission beyond 2027 and explicitly integrating the building sector would be a valuable step. 2) Our pragmatic approach based on a chain of available solutions. SOMFY advocates for a multi-solution renovation pathway adapted to diverse building types and local contexts. This includes sober, no-regret measures installed without altering structures, such as shading systems (screens, blinds, shutters) and passive ventilation; low-energy cooling solutions, including ceiling fans and active ventilation; insulation strategies to reduce thermal transfer and improve efficiency; and air conditioning systems, which, when intelligently controlled and combined with other measures, offer precise thermal comfort in extreme conditions. These solutions strengthen climate resilience and preparedness. By rehabilitating structures with approaches that are fast, affordable, and effective, they reduce costs and implementation time while ensuring functional, decent buildings. They are particularly vital for vulnerable populationselderly, children, and people with health conditionsmost exposed to overheating and related risks. 3) Our policy demands To achieve the goals of the EU climate resilience preparedness initiative, summer thermal comfort solutions should no longer be seen as an extra but as a necessity to allow people well-being, especially the most vulnerable. As such, the whole chain of solutions should be systematically integrated into EU adaptation frameworks. They should also be recognized as a legitimate and necessary solution to adapt the building stock to climate change. SOMFY proposes the following measures to the Commission: - Recognize automated solar shading and passive cooling as essential components of energy-efficient renovation; - Promote adaptable, quick-to-deploy solutions that improve comfort and reduce energy use as a key component of climate resilience preparedness; - Direct public and private investment towards sectors offering high value-added solutions for climate change adaptation. - Extend the EU Adaptation Mission beyond 2027 and explicitly integrate the building sector into its scope. By embracing these solutions, the EU can accelerate building stock adaptation, create business opportunities, and deliver affordable, sustainable, and future-ready housing, positioning Europe as a global leader in climate-resilient construction.
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Response to Review of the State aid rules on the Services of General Economic Interest (“SGEI”)

28 Jul 2025

SOMFY a European leader in automation and control of openings and solar shading for buildings welcomes the European Commissions initiative to revise State aid rules for Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI), especially to support affordable, energy-efficient housing. Headquartered in France since 1969, SOMFY operates across the EU in the construction and renovation sectors. We fully support the Commissions objective to simplify and expand financing conditions for housing projects aligned with Europes social, climate, and economic goals. As an EU-wide actor committed to energy transition, SOMFY welcomes a more flexible SGEI framework that better enables investment in both new construction and renovationparticularly where affordability, energy efficiency, and occupant wellbeing are core priorities. Our conviction: Housing must be affordable, energy-efficient, and climate adaptive. The revised SGEI framework should support pragmatic and forward-looking housing strategies that combine social accessibility with sustainability. We encourage the Commission to ensure that: - Energy efficiency and climate resilience are explicitly part of the SGEI definition of affordable housing. Minimum performance standards should reflect both winter heating and summer overheating challenges. Passive cooling measures, such as automated shading, deliver measurable benefits for both energy demand and indoor comfort. - Renovation projects are supported equally to new builds. Upgrading existing stock is often quicker and more cost-effective to achieve social and environmental housing targets. - Private sector solution providers are recognised as eligible actors contributing to sustainable housing objectives. Thermal comfort is a key dimension of housing affordability. Affordability must reflect not just upfront cost, but also long-term energy performance and liveability. With extreme heat becoming more frequent, summer thermal comfort is increasingly essentialespecially in social housing and public buildings. Preventing overheating is both a public health issue and an energy-saving opportunity. Case study Poissy (France): SOMFY motorized blinds were installed in 15 public schools, reducing indoor temperatures by up to 5°C without air conditioning and saving 200,000 annually in energy costs. Similar benefits are achieved in social housing, where smart shading cuts emissions, boosts comfort, and lowers cooling needs. These examples show the scalability and impact of simple, effective technologies that enhance housing quality and resilience. SOMFYs recommendations for the revised SGEI framework: 1) Broaden the definition of affordable housing SGEIs to include energy efficiency and climate resilience as key quality components. 2) Recognise thermal comfort and passive cooling measures as contributing to energy and health outcomes. 3) Ensure renovation and adaptation measures are treated on par with new builds. 4) Allow broader eligibility for innovative private actors contributing scalable, energy-efficient solutions. SOMFY stands ready to share its expertise and support a robust, inclusive, and forward-looking SGEI frameworkfor affordable housing. We encourage the Commission to embed comfort, efficiency, and adaptability at the core of tomorrows housing systems. We remain available for continued dialogue and have provided further detail in the attached position paper.
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Response to European Affordable Housing Plan

4 Jun 2025

SOMFY a European leader in the automation and control of openings and solar shading for buildings welcomes the European Commissions initiativefor an affordable housing plan. Headquartered in France since 1969, and present in most EU Member States, SOMFY is actively engaged in the construction and renovation sector, working to reduce energy consumption, lower household energy bills, and contribute to the resilience of the EU building stock. At SOMFY, we believe this initiative is both timely and essential to address the dual challenge of climate change and access to affordable, healthy housing. Europe is warming rapidly, and its ageing building stock remains largely unprepared for increasingly frequent heatwaves. While deep renovations are crucial, they are not always feasible due to high costs, logistical complexity, and time constraints. Pragmatic, flexible, and scalable solutions are needed to support affordability and inclusiveness in climate adaptation. I - Our conviction: a tailored chain of solutions for every building and context. SOMFY advocates amulti-solution renovation pathway, combining both passive and active measures to reduce cooling needs and improve indoor comfort, to adapt to the diversity of building types and local contexts across Europe. This chain of solutions includes: - Sober and No-regret solutions such as automated solar shading systems and natural ventilation; - Low-energy cooling technologiessuch as air brewers and active ventilation techniques; - Insulation strategiesto reduce thermal transfer that complement shading and cooling; - Smart air conditioning systems, which, when intelligently controlled and combined with other measures, offer precise thermal comfort in extreme conditions. These solutions are particularly critical in public infrastructures (schools, hospitals, administrative buildings) and social housing, where vulnerable populations are most at risk from overheating and related health impacts. II - Key recommendation: integrate summer thermal comfort in EU renovation policies Today, summer thermal comfort remains optional in most national renovation strategies. To meet the objectives of the Affordable Housing Plan, the EU should integrate relevant low-energy, adaptable solutions into its energy efficiency frameworks. These technologies and solutions are quick to deploy, cost-effective, and can deliver immediate improvements in comfort and resilience, without the need for full-scale renovation. A recent case study in Poissy (France) illustrates this potential: the installation of 616 motorised blinds in 15 public schools resulted in temperature reductions of up to 5°C compared to non-equipped classrooms, and up to 12°C compared to outdoor levels, with annual energy savings equivalent to 200,000 without resorting to air conditioning. These solutions are equally effective in social housing, multi-family buildings, and single-family homes. III - Our policy recommendations: 1) Recognizesober adaptation measures such as smart solar shading among others as core components of energy efficiency measures; 2) Make summer thermal comfort a mandatory element in national renovation plans; 3) Promoteadaptable, quick-to-deploy solutionsthat enhance comfort while reducing energy consumption; 4) Support affordable adaptation through targeted financial incentives and public procurement requirements; 5) Leverage European manufacturing and innovation to boost competitiveness and local jobs. SOMFY remains at the Commissions disposal to provide further insight and stands ready to contribute to this collective effort to ensure that all Europeans have access to affordable, climate-ready housing. Further details are provided in the position paper attached to this submission.
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