The European Commission has announced a provisional agreement reached with the European Parliament and the Council to reform and strengthen the EU Energy Efficiency Directive.
The agreement establishes an EU energy efficiency target of 11.7% for 2030 and requires EU Member States to ensure an additional reduction of final and primary energy consumption. The annual energy savings obligation nearly doubles, and companies will be encouraged to be more energy-efficient under the revised directive.
Half of the total energy consumption in Europe is represented by heating and cooling, thus, the implementation of sustainable solutions like heat pumps in residential, commercial and industrial application or distric energy needs to be boosted to achieve the foreseen change to long-term solutions. The new agreement should speed up the changes.
Great opportunities for sustainable growth such as waste heat recovery from data centres or digital control to decarbonise buildings have potential and are waiting to be implemented.
The agreement also includes the first-ever EU definition of energy poverty and puts a stronger focus on alleviating energy poverty and empowering consumers. The agreement requires formal adoption by the European Parliament and the Council before entering into force.