This webinar, part of the EUSEW 2020 extended programme, brought together policymakers, researchers, and a cross-sectorial group of business representatives to discuss about existing technologies and approaches to save energy and reduce emissions in industry and the ICT sector – in the short term; and policy guardrails needed for a GHG-neutral EU industry – in the longer term.
With: – Peter Hoedemaker, President, European Industrial Insulation Foundation – Jan Ciampor, Policy Officer, Energy Efficiency Unit, DG ENER, European Commission – Antti Valle, Deputy Head of Unit, Energy Intensive Industries and Raw Materials, DG GROW, European Commission – Andreas Guertler, Director, European Industrial Insulation Foundation – Gaël Souchet, Senior Product Manager New Energy Storage, Schneider Electric – Andrea Herbst, Senior Researcher, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI – Guido Knoche, Senior Advisor for Climate, German Environment Agency (UBA) – Barbara Mariani, Senior Policy Officer for Climate, European Environmental Bureau
Moderator: – Monica Frassoni, President, European Alliance to Save Energy.
The full Power Point is available here: https://bit.ly/3ef1QqM For questions or further information please contact: matteo.guidi@euase.eu
The European Green Deal and energy efficiency are highly needed to achieve a sustainable and efficient recovery of Europe’s economy after the Covid-19 crisis.
At COP24 our president Monica Frassoni enjoyed a trip around Katowice in a Tesla thanks to the initiative #ETtalksdrive by our member Danfoss.
She talked about the strength of joint activities and how to create effective partnerships for energy efficiency by combining businesses, associations and NGOs with people with knowledge and willingness to act.
According to her, energy efficiency has been a “Cinderella” for years in the EU energy debate but this is finally changing.
The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) welcomes this historic result at a time when it is crucial to ensure Europe’s swift socio-economic recovery in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The recovery plan is a unique opportunity to address – in the long term – the devastating impact of climate change on our societies. The overall climate earmarking for both the Next Generation EU and the MFF was increased from 25% to 30%. Expenditures will have to be aligned with the objective to reach climate neutrality by 2050 and contribute to achieving the Union’s new 2030 climate targets, which will be updated by the end of the year. Moreover, the Council agreed that, as a general principle, all EU expenditure should be consistent with the Paris Agreement objectives and the “do no harm” principle.
While welcoming the new instruments and targets, EU-ASE regrets the heavy cuts to the Just Transition Fund and the InvestEU programmes, both very relevant to ensure a smooth transition to a climate neutral society.
Monica Frassoni, president of the European Alliance to Save Energy said: “The increase in the climate earmarking, as well as the references to the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goals are good signs.Moving forward, we need to further increase the percentage of climate mainstreaming and need clearer rules, including a stringent definition of harmful activities, to ensure that no EU-backed spending is directed to investments at odds with the climate neutrality goal.”
“We hope that the European Parliament will call for higher climate ambition. EU-ASE looks forward to working with the Parliament and Member States to make sure that the overall green commitment is reflected in the relevant sectoral legislations and in the national Recovery and Resilience plans.”
About EU-ASE The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) was established in December 2010 by some of Europe’s leading multinational companies. The Alliance creates a platform from which companies can ensure that the voice of energy efficiency is heard from across the business and political community. EU-ASE members have operations across the 27 Member States of the European Union, employ over 340.000 people in Europe and have an aggregated annual turnover of €115 billion.
Media contact: Matteo Guidi +32 493 37 21 42 matteo.guidi@euase.eu
Building renovation needs the EU’s support and will help recover the economy in return. European leaders need to deliver efficient incentives soon.
Building renovation is a key element of achieving Europe’s 2030 and 2050 decarbonisation targets. The COVID-19 related quarantine and the current summer heatwaves across Europe have underlined the importance of quality and energy-efficient buildings to deliver safe and healthy housing and workplaces. Europe needs to increase the generally low renovation rate, yet the economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis will further push the rate down.
The slowdown in renovation activity will result from a decline in investor confidence. Who would not delay insulation of their home by a year or two, when they had lived without insulation for the last ten? Who would provide a loan for renovation if repayments are not secured?
Construction output tends to suffer from economic hick-ups longer and harder than the rest of the economy. After the crisis in 2008, GDP and industrial production returned to growth as early as 2010 in many countries, while construction output continued to fall year after year until 2014 (as illustrated by the Slovak case – see chart below).
European leaders have the power to help economic recovery, decarbonisation and housing quality of EU citizens at the same time. Delivering efficient incentive mechanisms aimed at building renovation and delivering them soon is required.
They have plenty of opportunities. Many countries struggle to manage spending from the current cohesion programs (2014 – 2020) in a number of areas. Re-allocating the funds to building renovation programs where demand is high is a sensible solution and an alternative to leaving the money on the ground. Swift finalisation of the MFF discussions will enable Member States to seal Partnership Agreements and launch new Cohesion funding (2021 – 2027) without much delay. The Next Generation EU fund intends to help Europe with green and digital transitions and should, therefore, include programs aimed at building renovation.
Lessons learned from previous periods need to be taken on board to ensure good results. Visegrad experts have pulled their 15 recommendations on more efficient use of the 2021-27 Cohesion Funds that apply to any other EU or national funding, too. Experts call, among other things, for a better reflection between allocation and investment need. They also say that “more developed regions” need access to the funding, too – building owners, both public and private, need to be motivated to perform a renovation and to perform it with higher ambition and quality, regardless of how developed their region is. Moreover, they suggest excluding renovation from state aid rules and streamlining public procurement to a lean and effective process as this would increase the renovation uptake.
But are the Central and Eastern European Member States actually ready to deliver building renovation? In fact, and contrary to their climate policy attitudes, they are. Just a few examples. Romania is just about to launch subsidy programs for both single-family homes and public buildings. Bulgaria has a successful track record with a program for a multi-apartment building renovation that is now on hold due to budget issues. In Slovakia, renovation projects of municipal buildings worth more than 100 million euros are ready as they have applied but not received subsidies from an EU Fund program. Poland is starting a Clean Air Program aimed to combat air pollution. The Czech Republic has a positive experience with their New Green Savings, a program delivering quality renovation of 8,000 single-family homes a year. Croatia seeking funding for multi-apartment and public building renovation programs, as well as for buildings in Zagreb damaged by the March 2020 earthquake.
Supporting the quality renovation of buildings delivers several benefits. It goes directly to builders, the citizens. Not only does it control the damage to the decline of construction output, but also helps recover the economy. It turns private savings into investments and economic activity. It triggers domestic demand that is catered to by small local construction companies across all regions of Europe evenly. Therefore, renovating buildings is a key tool to support the EU’s socio-economic recovery after this crisis, and leaders and governments should act to make this happen.
