Brussels (Platts)--28Feb2011/911 am EST/1411 GMT
EU ministers have put off until at least 2013 any discussion of changes to the EU's voluntary aim to improve its energy efficiency by 20% by 2020, they said in their formal conclusions to a meeting in Brussels Monday. "The setting of any additional [energy efficiency] targets is not justified at present," they said. "The implementation of the EU energy efficiency target will be reviewed by 2013 and further measures considered if necessary," they said. The European Commission has estimated that on current measures the EU is only on track to improve its energy efficiency by about 10% compared with business as usual by 2020. Article continues below... Request a free trial of: EU Energy EU Energy, published twice-monthly, provides a single source for news and analysis of EU energy policy and key gas and electricity industry developments in the EU member states.
EU ministers have put off until at least 2013 any discussion of changes to the EU's voluntary aim to improve its energy efficiency by 20% by 2020, they said in their formal conclusions to a meeting in Brussels Monday. "The setting of any additional [energy efficiency] targets is not justified at present," they said. "The implementation of the EU energy efficiency target will be reviewed by 2013 and further measures considered if necessary," they said. The European Commission has estimated that on current measures the EU is only on track to improve its energy efficiency by about 10% compared with business as usual by 2020.
Article continues below...
EU Energy, published twice-monthly, provides a single source for news and analysis of EU energy policy and key gas and electricity industry developments in the EU member states.
The EC is expected to publish a new EU energy efficiency plan--an update of the 2006 version which included the 20% target--in early March including measures to try to get the EU back on track. Suggested measures, according to an unofficial draft seen by Platts in February, include focusing on energy efficiency throughout the supply chain, from production to end-use, and requiring the public sector both to use energy efficiency measures and to promote them. The draft plan also suggests revising the EU's 2006 energy services directive and 2004 cogeneration directive. These and several other suggestions in the EC's draft get high level political support from the ministers in their meeting conclusions. But the ministers make no reference to the EC's plan to call on national governments to set voluntary national energy efficiency targets. "The implementation of the [2011 plan] and related instruments across member states would be more easily achieved if a common, easy and practicable methodology for monitoring the development of energy efficiency could be developed," said the ministers. EU national governments have been reluctant to accept binding EU energy efficiency targets until such a common methodology is agreed.--Siobhan Hall, siobhan_hall@platts.com