The European Commission, Parliament and Council have reached an agreement in principle to increase their energy efficiency target for 2030 from 9 to 11.7%

Europe is advancing, even if it is sometimes in fits and starts, towards its ambitious objective of achieving climate neutrality by 2050. The main institutions of the European Union, the Commission, Parliament and the Council, have reached an agreement in principle on Friday to tighten their objective of reducing energy consumption by 2030, which will go from the current collective goal of 9% to at least 11.7%. Something that will mean, underlines Brussels, that countries must "take into account energy efficiency in their policies, planning and major investment decisions both in the energy sector and beyond".

The new rate is less ambitious than the increase of up to 14.5% —compared to the forecasts made for that year in 2020— in energy savings that the European Parliament had initially proposed. It is also somewhat less than the 13% who tried to negotiate the Swedish presidency, but had met with resistance from the Twenty-seven. Even so, it has been celebrated by those responsible for the three-way negotiations, the so-called trilogues, which lasted until well into the early hours of Friday.

"Energy efficiency is key to achieving the complete decarbonisation of the EU economy and independence from Russian fossil fuels," Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson recalled in a statement. "A stronger EU framework will help us stay on track to achieve our 2030 climate and energy targets and can also be a major incentive for competitiveness and strengthening the security of energy supply," he considered.

For the Danish MEP in charge of the negotiations on behalf of Parliament, Niels Fulsang, the agreement, which will imply an obligation to save energy of 1.5% on average per year for the countries, compared to the current 0.8%, until the end of 2025, will mean a "real change to the benefit of the environment and to Putin's disadvantage."

The objective of the new goal is for the Twenty-seven to reach, gradually, energy savings of 1.9% in 2030, although the goal for each country is indicative, since the legally binding objective is the one that these States must achieve as a whole. During the negotiations, Spain insisted that the measurements take into account the reduction effort that it has been carrying out since the National Integrated Energy and Climate Plan 2021-2030 (PNIEC) was approved two years ago, which seeks a reduction of 23 % of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions compared to 1990.

According to the Commission, the new more ambitious global goal will be "an important instrument to promote energy savings in sectors such as construction, industry and transport".

More energy efficiency

In fact, the revision of the regulations grants more responsibility to the public sector, which will have to pay more attention to energy efficiency: an annual energy reduction target of 1.9% will be immediately imposed on it, something that they will have to take into account in their public acquisitions of products, services, buildings and even works. The obligation to renovate at least 3% of the total land area of ​​public buildings every year to convert them into zero emission constructions is now extended to the regional and local level.

In addition, Member States will have to “encourage” energy-intensive companies to become more efficient, with the threat of a possible energy audit if they do not comply. Likewise, they must promote that the supply of heating and cooling in towns with more than 45,000 inhabitants advances towards a total decarbonization in 2050.

The updated directive also proposes for the first time a European definition of "energy poverty", which will mean, stresses the Commission, that the Twenty-seven must "prioritize" measures to improve energy efficiency among the most vulnerable and low-income population.

The agreement "presents an ambitious objective to reduce energy consumption in the EU", the Swedish presidency has celebrated.

The agreement is in principle, that is, it will still have to be validated by the European Parliament and by the Twenty-seven. A step that is normally considered a mere formality, but cannot be taken for granted until everyone signs it off. Especially since the precedent that Germany established a week ago in another key agreement on the fight against climate change, the ban on the sale of cars with combustion engines from 2035. The initiative had to be sanctioned without problems as a mere point without discussion in the first possible council of ministers after the agreement reached in a trialogue last October. But the Swedish presidency of the EU had to hastily remove it from the agenda a week ago in the face of clear opposition from Germany, which, despite initially giving its initial go-ahead to the proposal, now wants guarantees on a potential use of synthetic fuels. a controversial requirement that has turned the agreement upside down and left many capitals stunned by the dangerous precedent that a step backwards by a key country such as Germany could leave, not only in environmental matters.

In addition to this pact to increase energy efficiency in the medium term, the Commission wants to extend another immediate measure established as a direct response to the war in Ukraine: the 15% reduction target in the gas consumption of the Twenty-seven, agreed last July and which will expire on March 31 if the commitment is not renewed. Commissioner Simson advanced on Thursday her intention to propose its extension, since, she said, it constitutes "the best guarantee" to ensure energy supply for next winter.