Governance of the energy union

KEY POINTS

The energy union strategy has five dimensions:

• decarbonisation,
• energy efficiency,
• energy security,
• the internal energy market,
• research, innovation and competitiveness.

The regulation has a number of key features.

• It requires Member States:
  • to produce integrated national energy and climate plans for 2021–2030 by 31 December 2019, and subsequently by 1 January 2029 and every 10 years thereafter; and to update them by 30 June 2024, and subsequently by 1 January 2034 and every 10 years thereafter;
  • to prepare long-term low-emission strategies with a 30-year perspective and to report them to the European Commission, with a view to contributing to broader sustainable development goals and the long-term goals set by the Paris Agreement;
  • to produce biennial progress reports on the implementation of the plans, from 15 March 2023 onwards, to track progress across the five dimensions of the energy union.
• It establishes a repeated consultation process between the Commission and Member States and fosters regional cooperation between Member States, especially before the plans are finalised, and then every 10 years for the subsequent 10-year periods.
• It requires the Commission to monitor and assess Member States’ progress towards the targets, objectives and contributions set in their national plans and to propose measures and exercise its powers at EU level in order to ensure the collective achievement of those objectives and targets.
• It sets out the requirements for national and EU inventory systems for greenhouse gas emissions, policies, measures and projections.
• It sets a binding EU target of a net domestic reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% (compared with 1990 levels) by 2030 and undertakes to set a climate target for 2040 within 6 months of the first global stocktaking under the Paris Agreement, which the Commission recommends to be set at 90%.
• It mentions not only Member States’ commitments but also their national targets under Regulation (EU) 2018/841 on the inclusion of greenhouse gas emissions and removals from land use, land-use change and forestry in the 2030 climate and energy framework (known as the LULUCF regulation).
• In 2025, it is envisaged that the Commission will carry out a comprehensive review of the national inventory data submitted by Member States in order to determine the annual targets of net greenhouse gas emission reductions of the Member States and to determine the annual emission allocations of the Member States in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/842, which sets binding annual greenhouse gas emission reductions.
• It aligns itself with the targets set out in the revised directive on renewable energy (Directive (EU) 2018/2001 – see summary), which seeks to raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5% by 2030, with an additional 2.5% indicative top-up to allow the target of 45% to be achieved. Each Member State is required to contribute to this common target.
• It aligns itself with the targets set out in the revised directive on energy efficiency (Directive (EU) 2023/1791 – see summary), which establishes a binding EU energy efficiency target to ensure a reduction in energy consumption of at least 11.7% by 2030 compared to the projections of the 2020 EU reference scenario.

Delegated acts

• The Commission has the power to adopt delegated acts in order to adapt the national energy and climate plans template to amendments to the EU’s energy and climate policy framework that are directly and specifically related to the EU’s contributions under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement.
• It also has the power to adopt delegated acts to take account of changes in global warming potentials and internationally agreed inventory guidelines, to set substantive requirements for the EU inventory system and to set up the registries.
• Delegated Regulation (EU) 2020/1044 supplements Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 with regard to values for global warming potentials and the greenhouse gas inventory guidelines, and with regard to the EU’s inventory system:
  • it repeals Delegated Regulation (EU) No 666/2014 from 1 January 2021;
  • it applies to reports submitted by Member States from 2021 onwards;
  • Member States and the Commission will use the global warming potentials listed in its Annex I for the purpose of determining and reporting greenhouse gas inventory data.

Implementing acts

The Commission has adopted three implementing acts:

• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1208 on the structure, format, submission processes and review of information that Member States report in line with Regulation (EU) 2018/1999;
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2020/1294 on the EU’s renewable energy financing mechanism; and
• Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/2299 on the structure, format, technical details and process for the integrated national energy and climate progress reports.

Repeal

The regulation repeals Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 on the monitoring and reporting mechanism for greenhouse gas emissions.