reduction energy bill Overcoming the dependency on fossil fuels from third countries has become one of the main priorities of the European Union. climate neutrality in 2050. A goal they took a new step towards this Friday. “temporary political agreement” closed by Council and European Parliament negotiators this results in an 11.7% reduction in final energy consumption by 2030. The agreement includes a specific obligation for the public sector to save 1.9% per year. In addition, Member States will have to renovate at least 3% of the total area of public buildings each year and promote local heating and cooling schemes in large municipalities with more than 45,000 inhabitants, so that the supply will be fully decarbonised. 2050.
“Saving energy is an important step to save the planet. In recent months, Europeans have demonstrated their readiness and ability to meet this challenge, and our industry has shown that it can optimize energy use and production processes. “We now need energy efficiency to be a more systematic part of our society, and this revised directive helps us achieve that.” Frans Timmermanns.
gradual reduction
The key element of the agreement is the commitment to reduce “at least 11.7% by 2030” based on consumption estimates for that date in 2020. This will result in the maximum limit of EU final energy, according to the Council’s analysis. 763 million tons of oil equivalent and 993 million tons of oil equivalent consumption for primary consumption. To reach the percentage, each Member State will need to commit to gradually reducing its consumption over the coming years: 1.49% on average between 2024 and 2030 until it reaches (from the current 0.8%) 1.9% savings in 2030.
This is an indicative target as only the common target set for Twenty-Seven will be binding. “I am delighted that we have succeeded in pushing Member States towards much more ambitious energy efficiency targets. It is extremely important that we do not become dependent on Russian energy while continuing to meet our future climate targets,” said the rapporteur of the European Parliament report, the Danish socialist. Niels Fuglsang He said he described the deal as a “big victory” because it would not only be “good for our climate, but bad for Putin”. Definitely, this Thursday energy commissioner, kadri simsonIt announced its intention to extend Brussels’ commitment to reduce gas consumption by 15%, which was approved last July to promote the independence of Russian gas and expires for another year at the end of March.
national contributions
The agreement, which was closed at dawn, was signed by all Member States. achieve this global goal through contributions and indicative national trajectoriesIt has been established by Member States in integrated national energy and climate plans (PNEC) that should be updated in 2023 and 2024. The formula for calculating these contributions will be indicative and countries may deviate by a maximum of 2.5%. After governments submit their plans, the Community Manager will calculate whether it has reached the agreed 11.7%. Otherwise, they may adjust lower than the national contributions would have been if they had used the planned mechanism based on energy intensity, GDP per capita, the development of renewable energy and savings potential. energetic.
The new directive, which will now have to be formally approved by the European Parliament and the Twenty-Sevens, encourages companies to become more energy efficient. For this, all companies, including small and medium-sized companies, whose annual energy consumption exceeds 85TJ, will have to implement an energy management system. If they do not do this and their annual consumption exceeds 10TJ, they are subject to an energy audit. It also introduces for the first time an information system on the energy performance of large data centers.
For the first time, the new standard is also definition of energy poverty According to the European Commission, this will mean that Member States will have to implement priority measures to improve energy efficiency among people affected by energy poverty, vulnerable customers, low-income households and people living in social housing. These are measures to alleviate energy poverty and empower consumers, including the creation of one-stop windows for technical and financial assistance and out-of-court mechanisms for dispute resolution.