The European Council of October, 2014, agreed on an EU objective of saving at least 27% of energy by 2030, compared to projections, and requested the Commission to review the tar-get by 2020, “having in mind an EU level of 30%”. It was felt that the existing policy frame-work should, therefore, be updated to reflect the new EU energy efficiency target for 2030, and align it with the overall 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy. Energy efficiency policies have been put in place by the EU for some time now, and they have delivered tangible results. The Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU), Energy Per-formance of Buildings Directive, Energy Labelling Directive, and Ecodesign Directive are some of the key ‘building blocks ‘ of the current energy efficiency framework. Many climate policies, such as the CO2 performance standards for passenger cars and light commercial vehicles, also contribute towards improving energy efficiency. Since the Energy Efficiency Action Plan was adopted in 2011, primary energy consumption has fallen across the Union, which, at the same time, has seen steady economic growth, and Member States have successfully strengthened their national energy economic programmes. CEEP has recently responded to the Consultation Paper reviewing the Energy Efficiency Di-rective (EED), and I will briefly look at some of the key answers to the numerous questions raised. In terms of the EED helping to achieve the 2020 energy efficiency targets, CEEP rightly pointed out that contributions differ from country-to-country. Croatia, for instance, is heavily reliant on its 3rd NEEAP (National Energy Efficiency Action Plan), which features a system for monitoring, measuring and verifying savings, as well as encouraging all [...]
On March 10, 2015 the Economic and Financial Affairs Council agreed its’ negotiating stance on a proposed regulation on a European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) under the Investment Plan for Europe announced on November 2014. This will allow the Presidency, on behalf of the Council, to start negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as the EP has agreed its own negotiating stance. The aim is for an overall agreement to be reached by June, to enable new investments to begin as early as mid-2015. Council negotiating stance on the EFSI regulation >>> The Council agreed that the fund would be built on €16 billion in guarantees from the EU budget and €5 billion from the EIB. To facilitate the payment of potential guarantee calls, a guarantee fund would be established that would gradually reach €8 billion (i.e. 50% of total EU guarantee obligations) by 2020. Following a decision by the Board of Governors of the European Investment Bank (EIB) small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) across Europe should be able to benefit from the first funds from the new EFSI before this summer. The money can be available for SMEs from the European Investment Fund (EIF), part of the EIB-Group, which will cover the risk of transactions with intermediaries providing additional finance to SMEs and small mid-caps until the main EFSI is in place. The EFSI should be up and running by September 2015 at the latest. Infrastructure projects may also benefit from similar pre-financing arrangements before EFSI is fully set up. KEY MEASURES IN IMPLEMENTING THE JUNCKER’S INVESTMENT PLAN An Investment Plan for Europe is an attempt [...]
In a few words
We represent the widely understood Central Europe energy sector (electricity generation, distribution and transmission, renewables, gas, oil, heat generation and distribution, chemical industries, etc.), universities and scientific institutions.
