Letter to President Juncker: 35 companies and business associations call for a relevant role of energy efficiency in the Investment Plan for Europe

Dear President Juncker,

Dear Vice-President Katainen,

As representatives of progressive companies and not-for-profit organizations working in Brussels to promote improved energy efficiency, we very much welcome your promised focus on improving Europe’s competitiveness and stimulating investment for the purpose of job creation. With private sector investment in Europe at one third of its 2007 levels, we face a crisis of confidence for businesses investing in Europe.

Choices made now in the Investment Package have the ability to materially change that sentiment. But it would be a mistake to pursue growth at any cost. The New Climate Economy Report shows that environmentally sound and socially inclusive growth is possible – there is no trade off. As such we believe that for the Jobs, Growth and Investment Package to deliver on its promise to quickly improve competitiveness in Europe, it must pass two key tests:

• Impact – The package must have a focus on sectors and projects that can deliver growth in the short term – and maximise the use of underutilised capacity in the European economy through delivering a high job creation potential.

• Sustainability – The package must be sustainable in the widest sense, delivering long-term economic benefits by improving business competitiveness; delivering visible improvements in the welfare of European citizens; and contributing to improved environmental performance of the EU economy.

Energy efficiency is a strong candidate on both fronts.et 

As such we urge you to include in the Jobs, Growth and Investment Package a clear focus on improving European energy efficiency and a clear commitment to increase the financial provision for technical assistance and access to low cost loans to enable Member States to develop a strong pipeline of projects.

We also need a clear commitment to continuing to roll out smart regulation, such as the Ecodesign Directive – which Commission analysis indicates will cut European consumer energy bills by around €110bn per year through reduced energy use and increase revenues to industry and the wholesale and retail sectors by €54 billion in 2020 – to further improve European competitiveness.

The investment package should aim to untangle the silos of specific procurement schemes and provide flexibility to finance technologies that taken together could have a “multiplier effect”. There are obvious synergies between digital, smart grid and energy efficiency technologies in a building or in an industrial plant, therefore the investment focus must take into account the value of these synergies between sectors. 

Finally, to truly embed energy efficiency across the EU economy, we urge you to include increased energy productivity in Member States as part of the broader structural reforms under consideration. In this way the short term impact of the Package help deliver long term impacts through improving the economic performance of the EU in the long-term, delivering millions of jobs across the EU in the process.

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Fourth Annual EU-ASE High-Level Dinner Debate

How to realize the EU’s energy efficiency potential within the EU Climate and Energy Package 2030

Leading businesses call for an ambitious EU-wide binding energy savings target for 2030.

On 14 October 2014, a broad range of European companies, large and SMEs, operating in diverse sectors, gathered in the European Parliament for the Fourth Annual High-Level Dinner Debate, organized by the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE). Leading businesses called on EU Heads of State and Government, due to gather in Brussels for a European Council on 23 and 24 October, to support an ambitious EU wide binding energy savings target for 2030.

The creation of a fully functioning energy-efficiency market in the EU is currently being undermined by continuing uncertainty over the future legal framework for energy efficiency; notably the lack of long term targets. These would provide security for investment and create the conditions vital to innovation and the maintenance of our technical advantages. Under existing policies, two-thirds of economically viable energy efficiency potential available between now and 2035 will remain unrealized.

If fully exploited, energy efficiency could make EU GDP grow by 1.1%, but with current efforts by Member States, it is expected to be only 0.25%. The Fourth annual EU-ASE High-Level Dinner Debate therefore focuses on:

  • The role of a binding target for energy efficiency in anticipation of the final decision to be taken by the European Council in late October 2014 in the context of the EU Climate and Energy Package 2030;
  • The full realization of market potential of the companies involved.

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Note to the Italian Prime Minister: “Stop agli sprechi!”

Lo sviluppo di una riflessione seria sull’impatto dell’efficienza energetica sull’economia e la società italiana ed europea è spesso ostacolato da tre falsi miti:

1. E’ VERO CHE FARE EFFICIENZA ENERGETICA SIGNIFICA FRENARE LA CRESCITA ECONOMICA ?

2. E’ VERO CHE LE SOLUZIONI DI EFFICIENZA ENERGETICA RICHIEDONO COSTI INIZIALI TROPPO ALTI ?

3. E’ VERO CHE IL MERCATO DELL’EFFICIENZA ENERGETICA SI SVILUPPA DA SOLO E DUNQUE NON C’È BISOGNO DI NORME E REGOLE ?

 

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Third Annual EU-ASE High-Level Dinner Debate

Energy efficiency is at the heart the EU energy and climate framework for 2030 and EU regional policy 2014-2020

The European Commission and EU Member States must propose a post 2020 energy-and-climate strategy and plan the use of resources that the EU will make available through its multi-annual regional and cohesion policy.

On 23 September 2013, a large contingent of European companies gathered for the Fourth Annual High-level Dinner Debate, organized by the European Alliance to Save Energy. Over the next period, the European Commission and EU Member States have two very important tasks ahead:

  • To propose a post-2020 energy-and-climate strategy and to
  • To plan the use of resources the EU will make available through its multi-annual regional and cohesion policy

In this context, the progressive business community has an important role to play to ensure policy makers fully understand the potential of energy efficiency and embrace a long term vision for an energy efficient economy.The dinner debate was an opportunity to gather senior business representatives with high-level European decision-makers to:

  • Share views about the need to have a European binding energy savings target for 2030
  • Highlight where improvements in planning and expenditure of EU resources are required for the period 2014-2020

Together with some of the participants to the dinner and other business leaders, EU-ASE reiterated the call for an EU binding energy savings target for 2030 in a letter addressed to the Competitiveness Council, the European Parliament and European Commission. The text, issued on 11 October, is also available on this page.

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EU-ASE contribution to the public consultation on “A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies”

The 2020 framework was designed without a comprehensive assessment of the synergies and potential trade-offs between the three targets (as recognized by the Green Paper – page 7, 5th paragraph) and had only two binding targets: one for raising the share of energy consumption produced from renewables (RES) in the European Union (EU) and one for EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction. The energy efficiency (EE) target, however, was not binding. In short, the framework is fragmented.

This situation has led to 1) a lack of the necessary regulatory support (i.e. binding targets) for energy efficiency (EE) for which the EU 20% improvement target by 2020 will not be met, 2) a remarkable growth for RES in general terms, but in a incoherent and inconsistent way among different Member States; and 3) the failure of the Emission T rading S cheme (ETS), conceived as the major driver for long term low carbon investments, due to a large surplus of ETS allowances. This only was caused in part by the economic crisis.

To date the EU’s 2020 Climate and Energy framework has been fundamental in reducing GHG emission and strengthen RES. However, it clearly has not delivered the amount of energy savings expected and did not create the right long term signals for investment in EE solutions. More efforts must be focused on EE across Europe to provide industry with certainty in the policy framework and improve consumer acceptance on EE technology, products and services. A holistic approach of this future package is needed to avoid sub- optimization of certain sectors.

When designing policies for 2030, for the business perspective it would be a mistake to see a trade- off between the need for a binding target- based regulatory framework for 2030 and the competitiveness of European industry.

What is in fact needed is a cohesive 2030 framework based on three binding European targets. This will, in our opinion, restore economic competitiveness, reduce energy costs and prices, increase security of supply and sustain economic growth in the EU.

 

 

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