EU Commission “finally” reveal new energy efficiency target

The ‘Clean Energy For All Europeans’ package proposes revising a number of key pieces of EU legislation, including the Energy Efficiency (EED) and the Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD) Directives, as well as an extension of the EED’s main provisions, Article 7, until 2050.

Stefan Scheuer, Secretary General of the Coalition for Energy Savings, emphasises his relief that the proposals have been released.

“Finally, the proposals for the mid- to long-term perspective for energy efficiency in Europe are out. The importance of a 2050 planning horizon for structural investments through Article 7 of the EED cannot be overstated if the Energy Union is to benefit each European citizen,” he said.

“But Europe needs a 2030 target of more than 30%. Small and larger businesses, citizens and local authorities want to see an acceleration of energy efficiency improvements, and we believe the legislative process can achieve this.”

A spokesperson for the Coalition for Energy Savings, a multi-stakeholder coalition, uniting 31 European business, civil society, consumer, professional, trade union and local government organisations, stated that the organisation is calling on the European Parliament to maximise the tangible benefits that energy efficiency legislation can bring, by setting a 40 per cent target based on cost-effective potentials and a delivery mechanism based on national binding targets.

“Each additional 1% energy savings matters – it could take 7 million people out of energy poverty,  secure 500,000 local jobs, avoid 37 million tons of CO2eq, and cut EU gas imports by 2.6%,” the spokesperson said.

“More consistency should also be brought throughout the Energy Union proposals by implementing the energy efficiency first principle in each and every strand, including for example in the planning and reporting requirements described in the governance regulation, and in the electricity market design proposals.”