Directive 2018/2002 - Amendment of Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency - Main contents

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 328/210

Moderation of energy demand is one of the five dimensions of the Energy Union Strategy established by the Commission communication of 25 February 2015 entitled ‘A Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy’. Improving energy efficiency throughout the full energy chain, including energy generation, transmission, distribution and end-use, will benefit the environment, improve air quality and public health, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve energy security by reducing dependence on energy imports from outside the Union, cut energy costs for households and companies, help alleviate energy poverty, and lead to increased competitiveness, more jobs and increased economic activity throughout the economy, thus improving citizens' quality of life. This is in line with the Union commitments made in the framework of the Energy Union and global climate agenda established by the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change following the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (4) (the ‘Paris Agreement’), committing to keep the increase of the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1,5 °C above pre-industrial levels.

Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (5) is an element to progress towards the Energy Union, under which energy efficiency is to be treated as an energy source in its own right. The energy efficiency first principle should be taken into account when setting new rules for the supply side and other policy areas. The Commission should ensure that energy efficiency and demand-side response can compete on equal terms with generation capacity. Energy efficiency needs to be considered whenever decisions relating to planning the energy system or to financing are taken. Energy efficiency improvements need to be made whenever they are more cost-effective than equivalent supply-side solutions. This ought to help exploit the multiple benefits of energy efficiency for the Union, in particular for citizens and businesses.

Energy efficiency should be recognised as a crucial element and a priority consideration in future investment decisions on the Union's energy infrastructure.

Reaching an ambitious energy efficiency target requires barriers to be removed in order to facilitate investment in energy efficiency measures. One step in that direction is the clarification provided by Eurostat on 19 September 2017 on how to record energy performance contracts in national accounts, which removes uncertainties and facilitates the use of such contracts.

The European Council of 23 and 24 October 2014 supported a 27 % energy efficiency target for 2030 at Union level, to be reviewed by 2020 having in mind a Union-level target of 30 %. In its resolution of 15 December 2015 entitled ‘Towards a European Energy Union’, the European Parliament called on the Commission to assess, in addition, the...