EU’s directive on Energy Efficiency: A Central Europe Energy Partners (CEEP) Perspective

EU’s directive on Energy Efficiency: A Central Europe Energy Partners (CEEP) Perspective

Feb 24, 2016

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 [...]