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The European Energy Efficiency Directive and its implementation in the German industrial sector

Panel: 6. The role of financing to improve industrial efficiency, global perspective

This is a peer-reviewed paper.

Authors:
Doerte Fouquet, European Renewable Energies Federation (EREF), Belgium
Jana Viktoria Nysten, Becker Buettner Held
Lawyers / Chartered Accountants / Tax Advisers, Belgium

Abstract

The European Commission in 2011 proposed a Directive on energy efficiency. After adoption, to be expected some time in 2012, the Directive – possibly the most controversial Directive in a long time with more than 1600 amendments requested – will have to be implemented in the national laws of the EU Member States. In this regard, the Directive leaves some discretion to the Member States: they have to set themselves a national indicative energy efficiency target for 2020, with a view to the achievement of the overall EU target of at least 20% increased energy efficiency and they have to decide on measures how they want to achieve them. While some binding measures are envisioned in the Directive, such as the renovation obligation for public buildings, in particular the “energy savings obligation” in article 6 of the Directive is formulated very general and broad. Faced with the implementation obligation, Member States will have to come up with their respec-tive solutions to those “open questions” on how to translate the provisions and objectives of the Directive into their national law.

In Germany, different proposals are being discussed even prior to the adoption of the Directive. For example, a special fund could be created in which companies would have to pay and which would be used to finance energy efficiency improvement measures, or a system of white certifi-cates.

It is the purpose of this paper to explain – based on the example of Germany – what exactly the European Commission’s proposed Directive requires Member States to do, to show where there is room for discretion and to introduce suggestions on how this discretion could best be exer-cised. However, as all Member States are different, there will not be a one size fits all solution, and it is not the purpose of this paper to suggest anything like that. Rather, the focus will be on what Germany does and may work for Germany.

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