Europe’s energy efficiency businesses call on EU leaders to put the European Green Deal at the heart of their upcoming economic stimulus plans.

Brussels, 6 April 2020

Call to EU leaders:
Dear Presidents, Dear Heads of States and Governments,
Dear President of the European Commission, Dear Commissioners,
Dear President of the European Parliament, Dear Members of the European Parliament,
Dear leaders of Europe,

The coronavirus pandemic is a major shock for the European and global economy. After the urgent response measures to address an unprecedented public health crisis, policymakers will have to devise the social and economic policy package to reboot the European economy and safeguard the existing, replace lost and create new millions of jobs across the Union.
In this context, as businesses and investors working in energy efficiency, we look forward to seeing Europe’s global climate leadership translated in green measures which will lead to a sustainable recovery through stimulus packages.
We are convinced that Europe’s ambition to become the first climate neutral continent is a formidable driver to rebuild a solid, resilient, inclusive and sustainable EU economy.

The European Green Deal is an important catalyst for innovation, economic growth, and reinforced environmental and social responsibility. By basing it on the fundamental principles of energy and resource efficiency, circularity and inclusion, it can stimulate an economic transition and job creation in key sectors of our economies such as construction, transport, energy, agriculture and manufacturing.
The European Green Deal is our future-proof growth strategy and we call upon the European Commission and European Council to put it at the very heart of their stimulus plans. We will all benefit from the acceleration of investments stemming from the European Green Deal. The drive towards climate neutrality will create opportunities that will help us out of the economic crisis and prevent future health, social, humanitarian, economic and environmental crisis that we will have to face if we do not reduce CO2 emissions and keep global temperature increase below 1.5°C.

The area of our expertise, energy efficiency, is one of the pillars of the European Green Deal. The EU cannot achieve climate neutrality by 2050 without applying the energy efficiency first principle. Energy efficiency is the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions and certainly one of the fastest drivers for economic growth and job creation across Europe. We look forward to working with you to fully realize its potential. Through the upcoming stimulus plans, we have a chance to make the EU building stock, transport systems and industrial processes – more energy efficient, and by doing so mitigate the economic and social fallout of the current crisis.

Yours sincerely,

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