The European Parliament’s environment committee showed itself to be much more ambitious than the European Commission when, on Thursday 7 September, it called on the EU to increase its 2030 collective energy efficiency target to 40%, making national targets binding – vital under the Paris climate agreement.
The demand, which remains true to the position the European Parliament has always argued, was contained in the report for opinion by Jytte Guteland (S&D, Sweden) on the revision of the energy efficiency directive. The report was adopted by 32 votes to 12, with 12 abstentions. In its clean energy package, presented at the end of 2016, the Commission proposes a collective target of 30% not binding nationally within the framework of the review of the energy efficiency directive (see EUROPE 11816). The environment committee also backed the inclusion of the transport sector in the annual energy efficiency target and supported improvements in monitoring reporting of energy efficiencies.
The committee vote was immediately welcomed by environmental and climate NGOs which were unanimous in calling on the industry and energy committee, which is the lead committee on this issue, to take account of this opinion in coming to its position on 28 November.
“By calling for a higher target and a stronger savings obligation, MEPs boosted the ambition of the future energy efficiency law. This position brings us much closer to meeting the Paris Agreement goals which require the EU to up its game on energy efficiency”, said Dora Petroula, Energy Savings Policy Coordinator at Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe.
“The confirmation of the binding 40% energy efficiency target is the starting gun for higher ambition in the whole clean Energy package. With only 59 days to go for the COP 23 the Parliament is finally matching its words with actions” said Roland Joebstl, European Environmental Bureau (EEB) Policy Officer on Energy and Climate.
On the same day, the environment committee also decided on its position for COP 23 and called on the EU, by 2018, to adopt a strategy for zero emissions by 2050 (see EUROPE 11855). EUROPE will return to this. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)