National Energy and Climate Plans

Renewable Energy

The Renewable Energy Directive is the legal framework for the development of renewable energy across all sectors of the EU economy, and supports cooperation across EU countries.

Since the introduction of the Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC) in 2009, the deployment of renewables has kept growing yearly, reaching 21.8% of energy consumed in the EU in 2021.

The Renewable Energy Directive was revised in 2018. The Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001/EU)entered into force in December 2018, as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package, aimed at keeping the EU as a global leader in renewables and, more broadly, helping it to meet its emissions reduction commitments under the Paris Agreement.

The directive establishes a new binding renewable energy target for the EU for 2030 of at least 32%, witha clause for a possible upwards revision by 2023. This target is a continuation of the 20% target for 2020.

It introduces new measures for various sectors of the economy, particularly on heating and cooling and transport, where progress has been slower (for example, an increased 14% target for the share of renewable fuels in transport by 2030). It also includes new provisions to enable citizens to play an active role in the development of renewables by enabling renewable energy communities and self-consumption of renewable energy. It also establishes strengthened criteria to ensure bioenergy’s sustainability.

In July 2021, the Commission proposed another revision to accelerate the take-up of renewables in the EU and to help reaching the 2030 energy and climate objectives. The directive sets a common target – currently 32% – for the amount of renewable energy in the EU’s energy consumption by 2030. The proposed revision and the REPowerEU plan, presented in May 2022, suggest further evolution of the target to accelerate the take-up of renewables in the EU, including by speeding up the permitting processes for the deployment of renewables.

The ambition and measures in the Renewable Energy Directive have been reviewed several times in order to deliver the urgent emission cuts (at least 55% by 2030) that are required to achieve the EU’s increased climate ambitions. In July 2021, the Commission proposed a revision of the directive with an increased 40% target as part of the package to deliver on the European Green Deal. In May 2022, the Commission proposed in its Communication on the REPowerEU plan to further increase this target to 45% by 2030.

The revision of the Directive also introduces new measures to complement the already existing building blocks established by the 2009 and 2018 directives to ensure that all potentials for the development of renewable energy are optimally exploited, which is a necessary condition to achieve the EU’s objective of climate neutrality by 2050. These include notably strengthened measures to support renewables uptake in transport, heating and cooling, seeking to convert into EU law some of the concepts outlined in the energy system integration and hydrogen strategies, published in 2020. These concepts aim at creating an energy efficient and circular energy system based on renewable energy that facilitates renewables-based electrification and promotes the use of renewable and low-carbon fuels, including hydrogen, in sectors where electrification is not yet a feasible option, such as transport.

National renewable energy action plans 2020

Energy Labelling

Energy Efficiency of Buildings

To boost energy performance of buildings, the EU has established a legislative framework that includes the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU) (hereafter referred as EPBD) and the Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU).

Together, these directives promote policies that will help

• achieve a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050
• create a stable environment for investment decisions
• enable consumers and businesses to make more informed choices to save energy and money.

Both directives were amended in 2018 and 2019, as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package.

The Directive amending the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2018/844/EU) introduced new elements and sent a strong political signal on the EU’s commitment to modernise the buildings sector in light of technological improvements and to increase building renovations.

In October 2020, the Commission presented its Renovation wave strategy, as part of the European Green Deal. It contains an action plan with concrete regulatory, financing and enabling measures to boost building renovation. Its objective is to at least double the annual energy renovation rate of buildings by 2030and to foster deep renovation. A revision of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive is one of its key initiatives.

In December 2021, the Commission proposed a revision of the directive. It upgrades the existing regulatory framework to reflect higher ambitions and more pressing needs in climate and social action, while providing EU countries with the flexibility needed to take into account the differences in the building stock across Europe.

It also sets out how Europe can achieve a zero-emission and fully decarbonised building stock by 2050. The proposed measures will increase the rate of renovation, particularly for the worst-performing buildings in each country. The revised directive will modernise the building stock, making it more resilient and accessible. It will also support better air quality, the digitalisation of energy systems for buildings and the roll-out of infrastructure for sustainable mobility. Crucially, the revised directive facilitates more targeted financing to investments in the building sector, complementing other EU instruments supporting vulnerable consumers and fighting energy poverty.

The main measures in the new proposal are:

• the gradual introduction of minimum energy performance standards (MEPS) to trigger renovation of the worst performing buildings
• a new standard for new buildings and a more ambitious vision for buildings to be zero-emission
• enhanced long-term renovation strategies, to be renamed National Building Renovation Plans
• increased reliability, quality and digitalisation of Energy Performance Certificates; with energy performance classes to be based on common criteria
• a definition of deep renovation and the introduction of building renovation passports
• modernisation of buildings and their systems, and better energy system integration (for heating, cooling, ventilation, charging of electric vehicles, renewable energy).

The proposed revision of the directive is now being considered by the Council and the European Parliament.

All EU countries must establish a long-term renovation strategy to support the renovation of their national building stock into a highly energy efficient and decarbonised building stock by 2050. The requirement for EU countries to adopt a long-term renovation strategy is set out in the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (2010/31/EU), which was revised in 2018 (2018/844/EU). These strategies are part of EU countries’ integrated National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs).

National Long-Term Building Renovation Strategies

The long-term renovation strategies must include an overview of the national building stock policies and actions to stimulate a cost-effective deep renovation of buildings and target the worst performing buildings, split-incentive dilemmas, market failures, energy poverty and public buildings. An overview of national initiatives to promote smart technologies and skills and education in the construction and EE sectors is also a key part of these strategies.

The strategies must also include a roadmap with measures and measurable progress indicators, as well as indicative milestones for 2030, 2040 and 2050. They also need to contain an estimate of the expected energy savings and wider benefits and the contribution of the renovation of buildings to the Union’s energy efficiency target.

A solid financial component is key to underpin long-term renovation strategies, particularly through an effective use of public funding, aggregation and de-risking.

National Building Renovation Plans

In December 2021, the Commission proposed to review the current framework within the revision of the EPBD and suggests to strengthen the long-term renovation strategies towards ‘Building renovation plans’. These national plans should be submitted every 5 years, following the submission of a draft plan, and should have clear and specific chapters, based on a common template. The plans will include national targets(instead of indicative milestones) in a more unified and comparable approach, an outline of the investment needs for their implementation and an overview of policies and measures.

Energy Efficiency

To meet the 2030 climate target, energy efficiency needs to be prioritised. To step up its efforts, the Commission put forward in July 2021 a proposal for a recast directive on energy efficiency as part of the package “Delivering on the European Green Deal”. The proposal promotes ‘energy efficiency first’ as an overall principle of EU energy policy and marks its importance and relevance in both its practical applications in policy and investment decisions.

The recast proposal raises the level of ambition of the EU energy efficiency target and makes it binding by requiring EU countries to collectively ensure an additional reduction of energy consumption of 9% by 2030 compared to the 2020 reference scenario projections. This 9% additional effort is measured against updated baseline projections made in 2020 and corresponds to the 39% and 36% energy efficiency targets for primary and final energy consumption respectively.

In the REPowerEU plan, presented in May 2022, the Commission proposed to raise the ambition further to reduce the EU’s reliance on fossil fuel imports from Russia. Because saving and reducing energy is the cheapest, safest and cleanest way to do so, it proposed to increase the binding EU energy efficiency target from 9% to 13%, compared to the 2020 Reference Scenario.

The recast proposal:

• nearly doubles the annual energy savings obligation, which is one of the key policy instruments of the Energy Efficiency Directive to meet the headline target. EU countries must achieve new savings each year of 1.5% of final energy consumption from 2024 to 2030, up from the current level of 0.8%.
• introduces a specific requirement for the public sector to achieve an annual energy consumption reduction of 1.7% as part of the objective to enhance the exemplary role of public sector across wide range of activities like buildings, transport, water and street lighting.
• requires to renovate each year at least 3% of the total floor area of buildings owned by all levels of public administration. Public bodies will also need to systematically take into account energy efficiency requirements in their public procurement of products, services, buildings and works.
• stronger focus on alleviating energy poverty and empowering consumers, through strengthened requirements on awareness raising and information provision, including on creation of one-stop-shops, technical and financial advice or assistance, consumer protection via out-of-court mechanisms for the settlement of disputes are structures. Improved requirements to identify and lift barriers relevant to the split incentives between tenants and owners or among owners are also included.
• focus on implementation of an energy management system as a default obligation for large energy consumers, and changing the scope of application of energy audits obligation from small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) definition to energy consumption.
• Revised definitions of efficient district heating and cooling and efficient cogeneration to ensure fully decarbonised heat or cooling supply in efficient district heating or cooling systems by 2050.
• In addition, clearer and stricter requirements to ensure the necessary technical competence for energy services providers, energy auditors, energy managers and installers (via regular assessment of the effectiveness of the schemes and ensuring that they correspond to the market needs). Improved interlinkage with Article 24 (on energy services) on ensuring quality of energy services.
• Requirement for all large (above 1000m2) non-residential buildings subject to renovation to assess the feasibility to carry out renovation via energy performance contracts. Strengthening of the role of intermediaries (one-stop-shops and facilitators) to support the uptake of energy performance contracting.
• Requirement for EU countries to report on energy efficiency investments including on energy performance contracts concluded (as part of Governance Regulation). EU countries will be required to set up project development assistance mechanisms at national, regional and local levels to promote energy efficiency investments to help reaching the higher energy efficiency targets.

In 2018, as part of the “Clean energy for all Europeans package”, the amending Directive on Energy Efficiency (2018/2002) was agreed to update the policy framework to 2030 and beyond. Its key element is a headline energy efficiency target for 2030 of at least 32.5%. The target, to be achieved collectively across the EU.

The amending directive also includes an extension to the energy savings obligation in end use, introduced in the 2012 directive. Under the amending directive, EU countries will have to achieve new energy savings of 0.8% each year of final energy consumption for the 2021-2030 period.

Other elements in the amended directive include:

• stronger rules on metering and billing of thermal energy by giving consumers – especially those in multi-apartment building with collective heating systems – clearer rights to receive more frequent and more useful information on their energy consumption, also enabling them to better understand and control their heating bills
• requiring EU countries to have in place transparent, publicly available national rules on the allocation of the cost of heating, cooling and hot water consumption in multi-apartment and multi-purpose buildings with collective systems for such services
• monitoring efficiency levels in new energy generation capacities
• updated primary energy factor (PEF) for electricity generation of 2.1 (down from the current 2.5)
• a general review of the Energy Efficiency Directive (required by 2024)

Directive on Energy Efficiency 2012/27/EU established a set of binding measures to help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020. In the context of the Energy Efficiency Directive, a number of important measures have been adopted throughout the EU to improve energy efficiency in Europe, including

• policy measures to achieve energy savings equivalent to annual reduction of 1.5% in national energy sales
• EU countries making energy efficient renovations to at least 3% per year of buildings owned and occupied by central governments
• national long-term renovation strategies for the building stock in each EU country
• mandatory energy efficiency certificates accompanying the sale and rental of buildings
• the preparation of national energy efficiency action plans (NEEAPs) every three years
• minimum energy efficiency standards and labelling for a variety of products such as boilers, household appliances, lighting and televisions (energy label and ecodesign)
• the planned rollout of close to 200 million smart meters for electricity and 45 million for gas by 2020
• obligation schemes for energy companies to achieve yearly energy savings of 1.5% of annual sales to final consumers
• large companies conducting energy audits at least every four years
• protecting the rights of consumers to receive easy and free access to data on real-time and historical energy consumption.

National Energy Efficiency Action Plans and Annual Progress Reports

Renovation Wave

Renovating both public and private buildings is an essential action and has been singled out in the European Green Deal as a key initiative to drive EE in the sector and deliver on objectives.

To pursue this dual ambition of energy gains and economic growth, in 2020, the Commission published the strategy “A Renovation Wave for Europe – Greening our buildings, creating jobs, improving lives” to boost renovation in the EU. It aims to double annual energy renovation rates in the next 10 years. Along with reducing emissions, these renovations will also enhance quality of life for people living in and using the buildings, and should create many additional green jobs in the construction sector.

The Renovation Wave identifies 3 focus areas:

• tackling energy poverty and worst-performing buildings
• public buildings and social infrastructure
• decarbonising heating and cooling

The Renovation Wave initiative builds on:

• the national Long-term Building Renovation Strategy
• other aspects of the Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings
• and building-related aspects of each EU country’s National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs)