Businesses urge ITRE Committee to recognise energy efficiency

Businesses have called on members of the European Parliament's Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE) Committee to ensure they recognise energy efficiency as the single most cost-effective means of achieving the goals set out in the EU Energy Roadmap 2050.


Yesterday, members of the ITRE committee were called to vote on the opinion report concerning the roadmap, which outlines and evaluates competing paths toward decarbonisation and sustainable growth.

The report is an opportunity for the European Parliament to influence the upcoming European Commission debate around the future of European energy policy.

According to the European Alliance to Save Energy (EU-ASE), a cross-sectorial alliance of businesses including Siemens, Philips, Schneider Electric and Knauf Insulation, the report will also highlight the need for regulatory certainty in the form of binding energy saving targets.

In a letter to the ITRE, the EU-ASE pressed the Committee to acknowledge that, from a long-term energy and carbon emissions standpoint, sustainable growth requires reducing our reliance on carbon-based energy resources.

“The best strategy toward doing so involves reducing the amount and the costs of energy needed to sustain and grow the economy,” the letter stated.

“This strategy is best accomplished by the widespread propagation of energy efficiency technologies across society,” it stressed.

According to recent analysis, energy efficiency can lead to reduced global expenditures on coal, oil and natural gas amounting to €525bn by 2020 and €1.3tn by 2030.

In addition, a reduction of global energy demand will have a decreasing impact on global energy prices reducing energy costs even further, according to the EU-ASE.

President of the EU-ASE, Monica Frassoni told edie: “If the report on the Energy Roadmap 2050 will recognise the need for regulatory certainty in the form of binding energy saving targets, notably for 2030, it will give a strong signal to the European Commission which is currently discussing a EU policy framework for energy and climate policies post-2020.

“Energy efficiency must be recognised by the European Parliament as the single most cost-effective mean of achieving the Roadmap goals,” added Frassoni.

Leigh Stringer

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