Display omitted •Implementation of the EPBD in Southern European countries is analysed.•Italy widely leads the way in scientific production in the field.•Optional application of the standard impedes homogeneous progress.•France leads the transposition of European Directives into its national regulation.•A greater number of common objectives with mandatory compliance should be implemented. The Energy Performance of Buildings Directive covers a broad range of policies and supportive measures designed to help European Union national governments boost energy performance of buildings and improve existing building stock. This review is a comparative study of Southern European countries with respect to their transposition of successive European Directives developed by each Member State through their own regulations and implementations of specific energy performance requirements. The article presents, on the one hand, a complete study of the literature, showing that Italy, Spain and Portugal are the countries that have developed a greater number of articles with content strongly focused on the scope of this work, with Energy and Buildings by far being the reference journal on this topic. On the other hand, conclusions about the applications carried out by each Member State are shown, such as the Directives that were implemented in a reasonable time, although not all countries have done so at the same pace or with the same degree of development. Many of the Southern European countries are not adequately prepared for the correct and effective implementation of nearly zero-energy buildings, and there are still many improvements that should be addressed in the coming years. For these reasons and to increase the effectiveness of the framework Directive, a greater number of common objectives subject to mandatory compliance should be considered. Establishing basic formulas and methodologies while ensuring flexibility for Member States to account for their own unique characteristics is necessary to achieve these common objectives.