2030 Energy Efficiency Target: The European battle continues
Source: The Energy Collective
Members of the European Parliament’s environment committee have voted for a legally binding target of a 40 per cent increase in energy efficiency by 2030, as well as for the closing of a number of loopholes that undermine annual energy savings.
In doing so they have set a challenge to the compromise of 30% delivered by EU energy ministers in June – a non-binding target.
The key question is: Will the EU eventually settle on a 30% or 40% target when it votes later this year?
On one side – in particular the coal industries of eastern European countries – are those arguing for the lower target.
And on the other the environment committee wants to see Europe’s nations being much more ambitious on saving energy in order to reach the Paris Agreement targets.
The committee also called for a strengthening of the new Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings to ramp up the current slow annual renovation rate of European buildings (around 0.4-1.2 per cent depending on the Member State).
Currently, there is an urgent need for widely available financing products that would include and support the positive aspects of energy efficiency renovations, such as the higher asset value and healthier living conditions for the occupants.
If adopted, this would call upon Member States to establish a long-term strategy for mobilising investment in the renovation of residential and commercial buildings, both public and private, to decarbonise the total building stock by 2050.
