Energy efficiency (from 2025)

KEY POINTS

EU energy efficiency

• This directive recasts the EU’s energy efficiency law, which:
  • aimed to improve energy efficiency by 20% by 2020 and by 32.5% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels), and included a requirement for all EU Member States to set national energy efficiency targets to achieve this;
  • promoted energy efficiency across the EU through common measures covering every stage of the energy chain.
• Generally, EU energy efficiency measures, including those that go beyond the energy efficiency directive, focus on policy areas with the greatest potential for energy savings and where a common approach across Member States is required. This includes legislation on:
  • industrial emissions, the public sector, the construction and renovation of buildings, the transport and energy supply sectors, and ecodesign and the introduction of a uniform energy labelling system.

Raising the targets

• As part of the European Green Deal and in accordance with the Paris Agreement objectives, the European Commission has proposed a climate target plan to raise the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions target to at least 55% below 1990 levels by 2030.
• This directive raises energy efficiency targets as part of this wider goal.
• The directive’s targets have been raised as part of the repowerEU plan, which aims to decrease the EU’s dependency on fossil fuel imports from Russia.

2030 targets, obligations and mechanisms

• The directive raises the EU energy efficiency target, requiring Member States to collectively ensure an additional 11.7% reduction in energy consumption by 2030, compared to 2020 projections. This is equivalent to energy efficiency targets of –40.5% and –38% for primary and final energy consumption respectively, compared to the 2007 reference scenario used previously.
  • Overall EU energy consumption by 2030 should not exceed 992.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent for primary energy and 763 million tonnes of oil equivalent for final energy.
• To help achieve the target, Member States will set indicative national contributions using a combination of objective criteria that reflect national circumstances.
• An enhanced ‘gap-filling mechanism’ is triggered if Member States fall behind in delivering their national contributions.
• Member States are required to achieve cumulative end-use energy savings for the entire obligation period from 2021 to 2030, equivalent to new annual savings of at least:
  • 0.8% of final energy consumption in 2021–2023;
  • 1.3% in 2024–2025;
  • 1.5% in 2026–2027; and
  • 1.9% in 2028–2030.
• There is an annual energy consumption reduction target of 1.9% for the public sector as a whole, and the annual 3% building renovation obligation is being extended to all levels of public administration.

Energy poverty

The directive also addresses the impact of energy poverty, with stronger requirements for Member States to raise awareness and provide information on energy efficiency.