‘Efficiency First’ will deliver – let’s start with renovating our buildings

(EurActiv, 16 Mar 2018) There is a simple truth about EU climate policy: If it does not put energy efficiency first, it will not meet its objectives cost-effectively. And if it does not try to do that, it may not meet them at all, writes Adrian Joyce.

Adrian Joyce is campaign director at Renovate Europe, a political communications campaign with the ambition to reduce the energy demand of the EU building stock by 80% by 2050.

Energy consumption is rising again in Europe after a long period of decline. Eurostat figures released last month show a spike in 2015 that continued through 2016.

We are now four percentage points south of the EU’s 2020 target of cutting our primary energy use by a fifth, and heading in the wrong direction. At the same time, our greenhouse gas emissions registered their first increase since 2010 in 2015 – by a small, but still significant 0.6%.

The official 2016 figures are not out yet, and it would be wrong to race to judgement. But with Europe’s economy picking up again last year – traditionally the harbinger of an emissions spike – complacency about the EU’s climate performance now could be a fatal mistake.

Experts from the Regulatory Assistance Project (RAP) explain that “Energy Efficiency First is a powerful approach to energy policy that can save families and businesses billions of euros in energy costs annually, improve energy security, and accelerate progress toward Europe’s goals for carbon reduction and a clean energy economy”. Energy Efficiency first is purely common sense and we even have the solutions today.

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EurActiv, 16 Mar 2018: ‘Efficiency First’ will deliver – let’s start with renovating our buildings