Mission efficiency : Games are opening, let’s perform, now !

Writing this note on my way back from the first European Parliament plenary session, I can’t help but draw a parallel with the 2024 Olympics game opening soon in Paris.

I always thought of our Energy Efficiency game as a marathon, including trainings and a solid “never-give-up” mindset, whatever the political winds. We first succeeded in the initiatory 2012 EED negotiations and we made it in the 2030 climate & energy package. Things then got more serious and we managed to take our medals from the Fit for 55 real marathon. We even secured that everyone would start exercising with mainstreaming our Energy Efficiency First principle into the broader policy spectrum.

So, what are we up to at the start of the 2024-29 mandate ?  

First, time to perform! And our performance – called implementation in the EU jargon – is about delivering more savings and valorising the genuine value of energy efficiency. It is not just about running and being resilient, efficiency will help with changing cycling gears in the energy transition towards 2040, and be faster at integrating renewables in the grid. It is empowering our industry to swim better in the global competitiveness race. In fact, energy efficiency looks more like a triathlon game.

Second, our Efficiency Club should get bigger, as everyone trying it gets a more stable future, a healthier home and an extra protection against energy price volatility. In this perspective, efficiency is key to solve housing issues and secure low bills in the long run. But as many good things, its benefits have been kept secret for too long. So let’s get more affiliates in the club – not only the geeky ones – and a bigger crowd celebrating successes.

Last but not least, we need sponsors. Continuity and diversity will be key here, as we certainly need continuous public funding e.g. from the EU recovery, cohesion, ETS and modernisation funding streams, but crucially also a more diverse set of private sponsors. If you or any of your friends happen to be interested in good investments, come and talk to me at the end of the Olympics !

 

Céline Carré
Head of Public Affairs
Saint-Gobain

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A three-step recipe to transform our buildings | EUSEW 2021

by Bertrand Deprez, Vice-President EU Government Affairs at Schneider Electric and board member of the European Alliance to Save Energy, & Céline Carré, Head of European Public Affairs at Saint-Gobain, a member of the European Alliance to Save Energy.

This is no secret: with more than 38% of Europe’s greenhouse gas emissions, buildings represent one of the largest bulk of decarbonisation. And with 40% of energy consumption, they can even lead the energy efficiency race. However, so far, the efforts deployed at the European and national levels to accelerate the renovation of the buildings stock have not been sufficient to drive their long-term decarbonisation. If we want this to change, and to make highly efficient buildings in a fully decarbonised and connected energy system a reality, three levers should be activated simultaneously.

First, aligning hearts and minds around the unique contribution of buildings can happen via the joint revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, Energy Efficiency Directive and Renewable Energy Directive. The Renovation Wave strategy has set the direction, but specific milestones and acceleration points now need to take shape. Among those are minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) on existing buildings, a tool to drive demand for renovation. Such MEPS should be deployed for first movers segments, such as non-residential and worst-performing residential buildings particularly affected by soaring energy prices. Then, new and existing buildings should be made fit for our 2050 carbon neutrality goals. In this journey, better accounting for reflecting emissions reduction potentials from new buildings and major renovations, on top of energy savings, will also help coordinate and align actions, especially when it comes to boosting the uptake of both energy efficiency measures and renewables, such as directly electrified solutions powered by renewables.

Second, unleashing new business models to finance and roll out renovations will ensure that the ambition is fulfilled. Deploying renovation and recovery is a combined challenge of preparedness and speed. The construction sector is getting ready with new approaches enabling to renovate faster and better. We need more innovators and integrators to plug these new business models together with available finance. The implementation of the post Covid-19 national recovery plans is a unique opportunity to fill the gap in this field.

Read the full article on the EUSEW 2021 blog

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