EU-ASE, Author at EU-ASE

Business Alliance call for urgent action on the transition to a Climate Neutral Europe

19 June 2019 | Latest Activities, Letters

Brussels, 19 June 2019

President of the European Council,

Heads of States and Governments of the European Union Member States,

I am writing to you on behalf of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). We are a multi-sectoral business organisation whose members operate across the 28 Member States of the European Union, with an aggregated annual turnover of €115 bn, directly employing 340.000 people in Europe.

The Alliance creates an outreach platform for our companies (Danfoss, Knauf Insulation, Schneider Electric, Saint-Gobain, Siemens, Signify, and Veolia) towards politicians and thought leaders to ensure the voice of energy efficiency is heard from across the business and political community.

As you meet during the next European Council meeting in Brussels on 20-21 June 2019, we urge you to commit the European Union to a long-term climate strategy with the objective of reaching net-zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. Pursuing this objective will signal a new economic direction for Europe.

The urgency of the climate crisis requires immediate action, stepping up our climate ambition and pursuing every effort to keep global temperature rise below 1.5°C by mid-century, as evidenced by the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. To achieve the commitments made under the Paris Agreement, businesses and investors must ramp up investments without delay. The next phase of European action must begin this year as current energy and climate policies in place globally, set the planet on a global warming pathway of 3°C.

As businesses who aim to build the climate neutral economy of the future, we urge you to:

Welcome the European Commission’s long-term climate vision to tackle climate crisis
Support the objective of net–zero emissions by 2050 in order to limit the temperature rise to 1.5 °C and align the Paris Agreement objectives
Endorse the call of the European Commission for energy efficiency to play a central role in reaching net-zero emissions by 2050
Consider Energy Efficiency First as a basis of the European long term strategy and the main driver of the transformation towards a fossil–free energy system
Welcome the call for higher buildings’ renovation rates and the recognition of the role that digitalisation and near zero-emissions buildings will play in the transition
Acknowledge the need for a just transition that leaves no one behind

As business and investor leaders who aim to build the climate neutral economy of the future, we urge you agree the necessary policy foundations, notably the climate neutrality by 2050 at the latest and set the direction of travel that will provide us with the clarity and confidence to act.

We wish you a fruitful meeting and remain at your disposition for further discussion on this strategic topic.

Yours sincerely,

Monica Frassoni

President of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE)

h

Download the letter

Return to Letters

Latest

Views

Positions

Events

More info

About us

Members

Board of directors

Useful links

Join us

Contact us

Subscribe to Newsletter

Energy Efficiency for a competitive and decarbonised EU economy

17 June 2019 | Latest Activities, Papers

The European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) is known to be a leading business voice in a growing, diverse and increasingly well-organised energy efficiency community in Brussels. Since our foundation in 2010, we have helped put energy efficiency high on the agenda of EU decision makers.

Together with other Brussels-based and national stakeholders we developed and promoted the Energy Efficiency First (EE1) principle, which is now a concept used across all the EU institutions and was recently introduced in the European legislative framework. We are convinced that through prompt implementation of EU legislation, together with suitable public and private financing, energy efficiency can play a much bigger role in the transition towards a decarbonised Europe.

Our focus on measuring global success by GDP growth has trapped us in a linear view of society, with carbon increasingly becoming a constraint to current and future improvements in prosperity.

We need to become much smarter and more resource efficient. We need to transition toward an approach in which long term quality of life becomes the most important metric. In this context, overall energy efficiency improvements across all sectors are key to arriving at a climate neutral world by 2050. An energy efficient Europe will foster competitiveness and growth through innovations in a range of sectors, each of these contributing to the prosperity, health and wellbeing of Europe’s citizens.

Harry Verhaar – Chair of the Board of Directors

Moving forward EU-ASE will:

Further contribute to policy makers’ and consumers’ understanding of the importance and benefits of energy efficiency
Promote the need for a strong EU role in the global fight against climate change
Put energy efficiency at the centre of EU and international long-term decarbonisation strategies
Make energy efficiency in buildings a strategic priority for addressing energy infrastructure needs
Support the development of relevant EU legislation and its swift implementation at national and regional level
Improve use of public resources and help design innovative financing schemes, to unlock private investments in cost-effective energy-efficiency programmes across Europe

We must take bold actions to limit global warming. If we want to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, we need to put the energy efficiency first principle at the heart of the transition and of the future energy system. We need to act now, starting from increasing the level of ambition for 2030. People, governments and businesses must work together to fully realise the energy efficiency potential across industrial sectors, regions and cities. This will allow us to reap the tangible social, economic and environmental benefits of energy efficiency. Time is running short, we need a shared sense of urgency that will drive better implementation, the adoption of adequate rules, investments and the use of available resources.

Monica Frassoni – President

i

Download the full publication

Energy-water nexus: accelerating energy savings for the clean energy transition

14 June 2019 | Papers

The link between energy and water consumption across sectors has been so far widely neglected, despite the economic and environmental benefits it can bring to European citizens and businesses. Water and energy are interdependent and should be considered in all EU policies with the goals to make Europe’s waters more resilient, affordable and accessible, and to support Europe’s energy efficiency objectives.

Smart Water management across the water sector and across the industrial, commercial, and residential water cycles can lead to important energy savings. The key is in understanding the energy-water nexus and its ability to generate water and energy efficiencies.

The opportunity to tap into the potential of this nexus is present with existing technologies and thus it is ripe for policy-makers to accelerate European efforts toward a clean energy transition.

This paper highlights the views of a cross-sectoral alliance of businesses united by the shared vision that smart water management can generate energy and water efficiencies and be a driver for a cost-efficient, competitive and decarbonised economy. It also provides policy recommendations for the EU to accelerate this opportunity, which is right in front of us.

i

Read the publication

Strategic investments for Europe – Evidence from cost-effective energy efficiency stories

14 June 2019 | Papers

We recognize in both public and private sector an urgent need to move from policy to practice and to replicate and scale sustainable technologies and practices.

Doing so will unlock the multiple economic, environmental and social benefits that are needed to create a sustainable development pathway in our 21st century. This is especially true in the area of energy efficiency. Consequently, we are addressing one of the main hurdles to accelerated adoptions of energy efficient products and solutions – which is a widespread lack of awareness about existing energy efficient solutions and their cost effective, social-economic benefits.

This is why we are pleased to present this collection of business success stories, as ‘seeing is believing’.

We look forward to contributing to the next policy cycle by presenting such success stories that underpin the well-being and prosperity benefits for a Europe that advances towards reaching climate neutrality by 2050.

Harry Verhaar – Chair of EU-ASE Board

i

Read the publication

The biggest innovation in energy is efficiency

13 June 2019 | Latest Activities, Opinions

By Monica Frassoni, President, European Alliance to Save Energy
Summer 2019

Article published in European Energy Innovation magazine

Our focus on measuring GDP growth has trapped us in a linear view of society. Long term quality of life needs to become the most important measure of global success. With greenhouse-gas emissions increasingly a constraint on current and future improvements in prosperity, we need to become much smarter and more resource efficient.

An energy efficient Europe will foster competitiveness and growth through innovation but also large scale implementation of existing technologies in a range of sectors, each of these contributing to the prosperity, health and wellbeing of Europe’s citizens.

Energy efficiency improvements across all sectors are key to arriving at a climate neutral world by 2050.

The last decade saw an unprecedented increase in awareness of the multiple benefits of energy efficiency. As a result of this, in November 2016 the European Commission proposed making energy efficiency central to a package of legislation known as Clean Energy for All Europeans. Between 2018 and 2019, several pieces of legislation aiming at improving energy efficiency were adopted: the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the Governance of the Energy Union Regulation, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and the Internal Market for Electricity Directive and Regulation.

Over the next few years national governments, the Commission, local authorities, businesses, civil society and other stakeholders will have to work together to fully implement these new laws.

The many benefits of energy efficiency in a climate neutral world
Energy savings are not only crucial for the transition to a decarbonised economy. They also offer many long-term benefits to offset costs associated with efficiency improvement. Investing in energy efficiency simply makes economic sense.

On average, every €1 invested in energy efficiency saves €3, over the lifespan of a technology. This means that energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to tackle climate change.

The multiple benefits of energy efficiency include economic growth, increased competitiveness, job creation, healthier population and ecosystems, clean air and water, alleviation of energy poverty, and energy security. These benefits, combined with an increased use of renewables, simultaneously address the major societal, economic and environmental challenges facing the EU today.

Energy efficiency and the 1.5°C goal
Climate change is defining our era. If we do not take bold action, we risk missing the time where we can avoid the disastrous consequences of climate change, for people and for the natural systems that support us all. We are at a defining moment.

Energy efficiency is key to achieving the goals set out in the Paris Agreement on climate change and related greenhouse-gas emission reductions. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), 76% of the European greenhouse gas emission reductions required to keep temperature increases below 1.5°C must come from energy efficiency.

In other words, without implementing bold energy efficiency policies, it will be impossible to reach Europe’s international commitments, maintain Europe’s global climate leadership, and prove the business case for climate change mitigation.

In its Communication “A European strategic long-term vision for a prosperous, modern, competitive and climate neutral economy”, the European Commission said that energy efficiency measures should play a central role in reaching net zero GHG emissions by 2050, reducing energy consumption by as much as half compared to 2005. In order to do so, Energy Efficiency First has to be used across a fast-changing energy system, as the best way to decarbonise our economies.

Europe’s energy landscape is indeed going through profound changes. These are, driven by digitalisation, an increasing share of renewable energy, distributed generation, citizens’ engagement (the creation of ‘prosumers’), electrification, storage, and market integration on both national and European level.

During the next political cycle we have to build a broad alliance of progressive forces, working together to decarbonise society in the interest of citizens and the economy. We have to embrace the digital revolution to deliver energy at the right time, in the right place and at the lowest cost. This will enable consumers to optimise and monetise their energy resources on a peer-to-peer marketplace. We have to unlock the potential for energy savings and carbon-footprint reduction that lies in the EU buildings stock.

We have to promote energy efficiency and renewables working together to provide over 90% of the energy related CO₂ emission reductions needed under the Paris Agreement. And we have to unleash energy efficiency improvements in high potential sectors, including through legislative incentives for saving water and promote the water energy nexus across policies.

We need to act now. People, governments and businesses must work together to realise the full potential of energy savings across all industrial sectors, regions and cities. This will allow us to reap the social, economic and environmental benefits of energy efficiency.

Return to Media Releases