Archived press release

EU Ministers dodge commitment to cut energy waste

23 November 2006

European Industry and Economy Ministers today ducked out of concrete commitments to cut energy waste at the EU Energy Council meeting. The Energy Council discussed a proposed target to reduce EU energy waste by 20 per cent by 2020 but did not commit to actually achieving it [1].

Friends of the Earth Climate Campaigner Mary Taylor said:

"Europe has a vast potential to stop wasting energy, but EU ministers constantly fail to agree concrete steps to tap into that potential. Europe's governments must swap their grand words with real action, based on binding targets and powerful legislation."

The "Action Plan on Energy Efficiency", adopted today, emphasises the potential of reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2020, but ministers failed to make this a binding target to steer future policies and investments. Achieving this target could, apart from cutting CO2 emissions, bring huge economic benefits for the European Union [2].

Governments also failed to stress the need for concrete and effective policies to complement the Action Plan. Friends of the Earth said the plan fell short in several sectors, especially in the transport sector, which already accounts for more than 30 per cent of energy use in the EU, and is growing.

Mary Taylor continued:

"If the EU wants to secure its long-term energy supply, then cutting its appalling waste of energy should be the top priority. Road traffic burns up 80% of Europe's oil imports and the fuel efficiency of cars is barely improving - car makers got away with weak voluntary targets so they are just sitting back. Binding standards are absolutely necessary." [3]

Friends of the Earth also criticised the lack of ambition to promote more efficient use of energy in the buildings sector... The existing Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is only up for revision in 2009, even though it is already clear that it fails to cover most of the building stock and will fall a long way short in deliver the potential energy savings in this sector. EU Ministers failed to address this policy gap in the Energy Council today [4].

Notes

[1] The Council conclusions of today's EU Energy Council will be available shortly at http://consilium.europa.eu/cms3_fo/showPage.ASP?lang=en

[2] "Realising the 20% potential 2020, equivalent to some 390 Mtoe (= million tons of oil equivalent), will result in large energy and environmental benefits. CO2 emissions should be reduced by 780 Mt CO2 with respect to the baseline scenario, more than twice the EU reductions needed under the Kyoto Protocol by 2012. Additional investment expenditure in more efficient and innovative technologies will be more than compensated by the more than € 100 billions annual fuel savings." (Energy Efficiency Action Plan, p.3,)
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/action_plan_energy_efficiency/index_en.htm)

[3] Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth Europe call for binding efficiency standards for cars. Starting from the current average CO2 emissions of ca. 160 g/km for all newly registered passenger cars in Europe, CO2 emissions should be reduced to 120 g/km in 2012 and to 80 g/km in 2016 in the fleet mix both EU-wide and in each member state. Since 1998, the industry has a voluntary-only target, which is not only weaker (140g CO2 per km by 2008), but which carmakers are sure to miss. Years ago, the European Commission had suggested to introduce binding efficiency standards of 120 g/km by 2010 - but then silently delayed the deadline to 2012.

[4] The energy saving potential is biggest in the large stock of private buildings across Europe. For example, a typical Belgian house is as badly insulated as a typical house in Spain - despite the very different climatic conditions. But buildings of a surface area of less than 1000 m2 are excluded, neglecting up to 90% of the potential to save energy. Ideally, European laws on energy use of buildings would set standards both for total energy use as well as the use of renewable energies to supply buildings with electricity or heat.

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Published by Friends of the Earth Trust