by Brianna Crandall — January 9, 2015—The nonprofit European Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (eceee) recently launched an analysis paper entitled What we will gain from more ambitious energy efficiency goals in the EU. The analysis presents and explains the findings of the European Commission’s 2030 energy policy framework impact analysis from this summer. The conclusion is that more ambition is cheaper for the European Union (EU) as a whole and helps the EU meet a number of difficult challenges.
On October 24, the European Council agreed to a non-binding target for an energy efficiency increase of at least 27%, to be reviewed by 2020, having in mind an EU level of 30% for 2030. However, in July the European Commission published its communication on energy efficiency where the Commission proposed a target of a 30% improvement in energy efficiency, up from the previous mentioned level of 25% published in early 2014.
The Council’s decision was thus a watered-down compromise, points out the eceee. But despite this compromise decision, eceee believes that it is still important to take a careful look at the impact assessment published following the July communication.
This impact assessment shows that taking the level of ambition beyond a 30% energy efficiency improvement could deliver significant benefits in a number of areas that would otherwise be lost. It should also be noted that a high ambition level for energy efficiency would lead to a reduction of primary energy use with positive effects on jobs, energy security, gross domestic product (GDP) and greenhouse gas emission reductions.
“The Commission’s impact assessment has been criticized for applying assumptions, such as discount rates, that are too conservative. However, in this analysis eceee chose not to discuss the various assumptions. Instead, we simply concluded that the impact analysis as it is justifies much higher EU ambition levels, and we believe this excellent information need to be communicated and explained to a larger audience,” says Nils Borg, executive director of eceee.
The report discusses a number of benefits that would follow from higher, more ambitious EU targets:
- Significantly lower total energy consumption in the EU
- Significantly lower net energy imports, thus improving overall energy security
- Important shift in investments to the residential and tertiary sectors
- Positive impact on economic growth
- Important and positive employment impact throughout all of the EU
- Greater environmental benefits
- Important benefits to lower fuel poverty together with a range of health benefits
- Improved competitiveness for Europe’s businesses
The EC documents are available from the Commission’s Energy and climate goals for 2030 Web page. eceee’s EU’s 2030 policy framework page has links to more analysis from eceee. The column by Peter Bach, “Why not share more of the big European opportunity?” also offers more information.
