On behalf of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) and the energy efficiency business community, we are writing to express our full support for the creation of the Energy Union and to encourage EU institutions to place energy efficiency firmly at the forefront of its development and operation.

Nel nostro Paese la green economy ha contribuito e sta contribuendo in modo determinante a rilanciare la competitività del made in Italy. Una propensione che abbraccia tutti i settori della nostra economia – da quelli più tradizionali a quelli high tech, dall’agroalimentare all’edilizia, dalla manifattura alla chimica, dall’energia ai rifiuti – e che sale al 32% nel manifatturiero.

We are writing to express our encouragement at the increased recognition that energy efficiency is being given in current discussion regarding the Energy Union. It is our hope that as those discussions advance toward revision of existing EU legislation in 2016, they will be guided by the principle of “Efficiency First”, so that the final legislation contains concrete provisions, which promote energy efficiency as a fundamental lynchpin to success of the Energy Union.

We are convinced that the decisions the EU will take in the next months over the priorities of its energy policy will be crucial to improve Europe’s competitiveness and the well-being of its citizens. We are therefore pleased that the European Parliament is taking the issue of Energy security very seriously and that a significant discussion is taking place around your important report. In this context, we respectfully wish to express our views concerning the role that energy efficiency should play in such a discussion.

At the forthcoming European Council on 19-20 March you will be discussing further orientations in view of building an Energy Union.

The European Council has regularly acknowledged that the cheapest and cleanest energy is that which is not used. The vision set out in the Communication on the Energy Union Strategy starts to reflect this, describing an Energy Union in which energy efficiency is seen as a key driver of energy security and is conceived as “an energy source in its own right”.

The Commission’s vision opens the door to an “efficiency first” approach, in which demand side resources would be systematically considered in energy system planning, purchasing and investing, and given priority wherever they cost less or deliver more value to society than supply side alternatives. The Energy Union set out by the Commission could thus mark a turning point away from an energy system that is based on building or buying ever more supply.

As the providers of energy efficiency/demand management goods and services in Europe, the members of the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE) commended this vision and called for an endorsement by the European Council to really treat energy efficiency as an energy source in its own right and compete on equal terms with generation capacity.