On Wednesday 9 February, the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union transmitted to the Member States two draft compromises, one concerning the revision of the European directive (2018/2001) on renewable energy (RED II), the other concerning the revision of the directive (2018/2002) on energy efficiency (EED).
RED II
With regard to RED II, Paris is proposing changes to the European Commission’s initial text on biomass (see EUROPE 12762/8).
While the latter plans to adopt a delegated act on the modalities of applying the cascade principle (the principle of aiming at an efficient use of biomass by giving priority to its material use over its energy use), the Presidency would like this act to also define “the conditions under which Member States may not fully apply the cascade principle according to national specificities”.
According to the European Commission, this principle should not be fully applied “where local industry is quantitatively or technically inadequate to process forest biomass from (certain activities)”.
Paris is also proposing a change to the application of sustainability and greenhouse gas emission reduction criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.
In the European Commission’s proposal, biomass fuels meet these criteria (set out in the Directive) if they are used in installations producing electricity, heat and cooling with a total rated thermal input of 5 MW or more in the case of solid biomass fuels.
The Presidency would like to raise this floor to 10 MW.
The draft compromise also changes the indicative target for each Member State to increase the share of renewables in industrial energy use by at least 1.1 percentage points on average per year by 2030.
According to the French text, this should be “an indicative average annual increase of at least 1.1 percentage points, calculated every three years, by 2030”.
Furthermore, while the European Commission foresees a target for the share of renewables in hydrogen used in industry of 50% by 2030 (in each Member State), the Presidency proposes to revise this horizon and to introduce an intermediate target. However, the text does not specify the percentage for this intermediate target or the new dates.
EED
With regard to the revision of the EED, there are a few changes to be noted compared to the first draft compromise presented at the beginning of December 2021 by the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council (see EUROPE 12851/3).
While the European Commission proposes to oblige Member States to renovate each year at least 3% of the total floor area of buildings owned by all levels of public administration (paragraph 1 of Article 6 of the revision proposal), Paris wants to reintroduce the option for Member States to follow an “alternative approach”.
This approach should ensure a gradual renovation towards a near-zero energy building, following the steps set out in a renovation passport, while achieving annual energy savings in public buildings that are at least equivalent to those required in paragraph 1.
Another change relates to the Energy Efficiency First principle.
According to the European Commission’s original text, Member States should ensure that energy efficient solutions are taken into account in planning, policy and investment decisions related to certain sectors defined in the Directive when these investments are “major”.
Paris would like to clarify this notion by indicating that it refers to “large-scale investments with a value of more than €50 million each, or €75 million for transport infrastructure projects”.
The Presidency further proposes that Member States be required to assess the application of the Energy Efficiency First principle every two years - and not every year as proposed by the European Commission - where policy, planning and major investment decisions are subject to approval and monitoring requirements.
The French text also further clarifies the concept of ‘vulnerable customers’, “which may refer to energy poverty and, inter alia, to the prohibition of cutting off electricity to such customers in critical periods”.
See the draft compromise on the revision of the RED II Directive (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/b1
And on the revision of the EED directive (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/b0 (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)