Disappointment for the EU energy saving policy

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Paolo Falcioni, director general of Ceced and chairman of the Coalition for Energy Savings
Paolo Falcioni, director general of Ceced and chairman of the Coalition for Energy Savings

Ceced and the Coalition for Energy Savings judges insufficient the targets and goals proposed by the European Union about the energy saving.
“Within the overall context of increasing Europe’s security of supply – said Paolo Falcioni, director general of Ceced and chairman of the Coalition for Energy Savings – the Council acknowledged the role that energy efficiency plays in moderating demand and therefore enhancing energy security. This however has not been followed up with a concrete meaningful target for energy efficiency”. The new European Commission President, Mr Juncker has recently indicated that jobs and growth will be his priorities underpinned by a 300 billion euro investment package. The household appliance industry underlines that energy efficiency has an important role to play in this package. A strong energy efficiency policy for the European Union would clearly contribute to providing a significant contribution to European jobs and the sustainable growth that Europe needs.

Stefan Scheuer, secretary general of the Coalition for Energy Savings
Stefan Scheuer, secretary general of the Coalition for Energy Savings

The Coalition for Energy Savings commented with evident disappointment the energy saving policy of the European Union. The following press release, explained its point of view, after the EU leaders, gathered at the European Council, agreed on a minimum level for energy efficiency, set at 27% by 2030. “One would expect leaders to lead”, said Stefan Scheuer, secretary general of the Coalition for Energy Savings. “Instead, they are sending confused messages on energy efficiency. In March energy efficiency was declared the top priority to increase energy security and boost growth. Today the target presented is so low that it is meaningless and would prevent the EU from cutting gas dependency by a third”. Discussions between Member States’ representatives have recently focused on the cost-effectiveness of energy efficiency measures. “Unfortunately – the Coalition noticed – the debate was impoverished by doubtful impact assessments by the European Commission. The Commission ignored research and censored important data, thus artificially inflating the costs of energy efficiency targets. Incoming Commission’s President Jean-Claude Juncker made it clear: energy efficiency will be a priority for his team, and a binding 30% target would be the absolute minimum. The cost-effective potential for energy savings by 2030 is in fact 40%, according to latest research published by the Commission itself. Tapping this potential not only makes economic sense: it is also strategic for the European Union, as each percentage of energy saved would reduce gas imports by 2.6%”.
“The support for bolder EU energy saving actions amongst governments, industries and civil society is growing. Our leaders have decided to ignore that reality, but the new Commission and the European Parliament have good reasons to embrace this attractive future in building the Energy Union Europe needs,” added Scheuer. A binding 40% energy savings target for 2030 is needed to unlock potentials and trigger investments in energy efficiency improvements which make economic, social and environmental sense. Any lower ambition would miss potentials to boost the economy, significantly reduce energy imports and energy bills, and address climate concerns.