To the kind attention of the Group Leaders of EPP, S&D, ECR, ALDE, GUE/NGL, Greens/EFA 

Cc: EED review Rapporteur and Shadow Rapporteurs 

Harry Verhaar 

Chairman of the Board of Directors

European Alliance to Save Energy (EU‐ASE)

Brussels, 15 January 2018

I am writing to you on behalf of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). EU-ASE is a multi-sectoral business organisation whose members have operations across the 28 Member States of the European Union, employ 340.000 people in Europe and have an aggregated annual turnover of €115 bn.

This week the Plenary of the European Parliament will vote on the report on the revision of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED): this will be the last opportunity to set higher negotiating requests before trilogue starts with the Council, which has already adopted a weak position on this file in June, during the Maltese EU Presidency.

The vote has a strategic relevance for the business community and will have a long-term impact on investments and sustainable growth in Europe.

Investments in energy efficiency create multiple benefits for our society, improve energy productivity and increase the competitiveness of the European economy. Energy efficiency provides consumers with tangible benefits through reduced energy bills, creation of local jobs, improved air quality and comfort, and strengthened overall energy security.

In this perspective, the EU 2030 binding 40% energy efficiency target and the continuation of the annual 1.5% energy saving obligation after 2020 are two necessary and adequate measures to help the EU to meet its Paris Agreement commitments and strategically unlock the full cost-effective potential of energy efficiency investments in the entire energy system.

Any attempt to weaken these targets would mean to set policy goals below the business-as-usual energy efficiency improvement trajectory and will have no real-life impacts.

As such, we would like to reiterate that, far from imposing a burden on our economies, these targets are essential to create the needed certainty for investors and a common sense of direction enabling consistent investments and progress toward ambitious milestones.

With this in mind, we urge you to thoroughly consider the political relevance of the forthcoming vote on the EED revision and defend the report as adopted in ITRE Committee.

We would be extremely supportive of a vote on the EED revision, which is fully coherent with previous positions adopted by the European Parliament, is aligned with the satisfactory compromise on Energy Performance of Building Directive (EPBD) reached by co-legislators, and is consistent with the ongoing effort to simplify public government accounting rules to foster energy efficiency investments.

Yours sincerely,

Harry Verhaar

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