23-06-05
The European Commission on 22 June put forward a series of ideas for discussion that it says could save Europe some 20 % in energy consumption by 2020 and slash its energy bill by EUR 60 bn every year.
Background:
Several measures have already been adopted or are currently in the pipeline to
improve energy savings at EU level:
-- A directive on the energy performance of buildings was adopted in 2002
(implementation due as of 2006)
-- A directive promoting the combined generation of heat and electricity was
adopted in 2004 (already in force)
-- A proposal to make increased energy savings from domestic appliances
(fridges, hairdryers, etc.) -- the Eco-design Directive -- is making its way
through the Parliament and Council of ministers
-- A proposal to increase energy savings when supplying and distributing
electricity, gas, heating and fuels to households, transport and other
industrial consumers -- the Energy Efficiency End-use and Energy Services
Directive -- is also being examined by MEPs and EU ministers.
Issues:
The Commission has opened a debate on energy savings with potentially
far-reaching consequences on several industries, including car-makers, with the
presentation of its long-awaited Green Paper on Energy Efficiency on 22 June
2005.
The paper places energy savings as a key element of the EU's ambitions to boost
competitiveness and jobs -- the Lisbon strategy -- saying it could save "at
least 20 % of its present energy consumption" by 2020, or the equivalent of EUR
60 bn a year. It says energy savings would also contribute to reducing Europe's
growing dependence on oil and gas imports as prices of fossil fuels continue to
surge.
At the same time, the Commission says energy savings would be the quickest and most cost-effective manner to reduce greenhouse gases emissions and help the EU meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.
Recent figures published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) for the period
2002-2003have demonstrated how far the EU's oldest member states were from
meeting their Kyoto commitments. According to the Commission, half of the 20 %
energy savings mentioned could be met by simply better enforcing existing
legislation (see above). The remaining 10 % would need to come from innovative
solutions, it said.
Examples of concrete ideas put forward in the paper include:
-- Establishing Annual Energy Efficiency Action Plans at national level;
-- Improve citizen awareness on energy savings through information campaigns and
product labelling;
-- A move towards harmonised tax regimes to support vehicles using cleaner fuels
or those that are more energy-efficient;
-- Better targeted state aid to encourage eco-industries and eco-innovation;
-- Encourage national and local administrations to acquire less-polluting and
energy-efficient vehicles to provide car-makers with a market for greener cars
-- a market that the Commission estimates at 60,000 vehicles a year;
-- Using cohesion funds and other support mechanisms at national level to
support projects such as clean urban transport including public transport; --
Doing more on energy-efficiency of buildings by extending measures to smaller
premises (according to the Commission, the buildings sector accounts for 40 % of
the EU's energy requirements and offers the largest single potential for energy
efficiency -- up to 30-45 mm tons of CO2 per year)
Using the Commission's CARS 21 industry high-level group to speed up the
development of cleaner vehicles.
One full chapter of the paper is specifically dedicated to the transport sector. Some ideas concerning aviation and its impact on climate change are currently being discussed in other context and are therefore not addressed in detail by the green paper.
The most ground-breaking suggestions are for road transport:
-- De-taxing cleaner vehicles;
-- Restricting access of the most polluting and fuel-consuming vehicles to the
central areas of cities;
-- Introducing specific certification and technical standards for cleaner
vehicles (see EurActiv LinksDossier on green cars) As with almost any other
emerging EU debate, one of the key questions will be to decide which level of
decision-making -- EU, member state or local -- is best suited to address the
issues addressed in the paper.
Positions:
The green paper received cross-party support in the European Parliament. In a
joint statement, individual MEPs from five different political groups (EPP-ED,
Socialist, ALDE, Greens/EFA, GUE/NGL) said a Europe-wide framework needs to be
built to reap the economic and environmental benefits of energy savings.
Together, they presented a joint paper for an energy intelligent Europe for
2020.
The European chapter of INFORSE (International Network for Sustainable Energy) -
a coalition of 64 NGOs promoting clean energy in the EU and former soviet
countries -- welcomed the Commission's energy green paper but said more should
be done.
It argues that the 20 % energy efficiency target for 2020 should in fact be set as a minimum target and called for an intermediary target of 14 % to be established for 2015. It called for harmonised energy taxation to be introduced by a vanguard group of EU countries using the Amsterdam Treaty's so-called "enhanced cooperation" and for fast-track procedures to be used for product standards and labelling.
Eurima -- the European insulation manufacturers association -- stated that with
rising oil prices and CO2 emissions still rising, focusing more attention on
energy efficiency had become a necessity for Europe. More specifically, Eurima
welcomed the Green Paper's proposal to lower the incentives threshold for
renovation of buildings to 1,000 square meters. Eurima's Director General Horst
Biedermann said this was essential if Europe is to capture the huge potential
from buildings.
Latest and next steps:
-- October 2005: A European Sustainable Energy Forum gathering Commission and
member states officials, MEPs, national energy regulators, industry and NGOs
will hold its first meeting;
-- 2006: A concrete action plan is expected to follow from the green paper.
Source: EurActiv.com