10 March 2023

COUNCIL AND EP REACH AGREEMENT ON ENERGY EFFICIENCY DIRECTIVE

On 10 March, the European Parliament and the Council struck a deal on the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), which was part of the Fit for Package presented by the Commission in July 2021.

In the provisional agreement, Member States must collectively ensure a reduction of final energy consumption of at least 11.7% in 2030, compared with the energy consumption forecasts for 2030 made in 2020. This translates into an upper limit to the EU’s final energy consumption of 763 million tonnes of oil equivalent and of 993 million tonnes of oil equivalent for primary consumption. The consumption limit for final consumption will be binding for Member States collectively, whereas the primary energy consumption target will be indicative. Member States are also mandated to propose indicative national contributions and trajectories in their integrated national energy and climate plans (NECPs), which will be due in 2023 and 2024.

The negotiators agreed to a gradual increase of the annual energy savings target for final energy consumption from 2024 to 2030. Member states will ensure new annual savings of 1.49% of final energy consumption on average during this period, gradually reaching 1.9% on 31 December 2030. The co-legislators agreed that Member States could count in the calculation towards the target, energy savings realised through policy measures under the current and the revised Energy performance of buildings directive, measures stemming from the EU ETS 2 (for installations and for buildings and transport) or emergency energy measures.

The provisional agreement will be submitted to the ITRE Committee on EP’s side and the COREPER on the Council’s side for approval. The Directive will then need to be formally adopted by the Parliament and then the Council, before it can be published in the EU’s Official Journal and enter into force.

Source: Council of the EU