In talks at the European Union’s Energy Council in Luxembourg, Germany’s economy minister, Sigmar Gabriel, has called for a binding energy efficiency target to be readied for 2030.
“We have failed considerably to consider the importance of energy efficiency,” Mr Gabriel told the assembled ministers.
EU news website EurActiv reports he noted that in 2012, EU states spent more than a billion Euros a day on fossil fuel imports.
Increasing imports of Liquefied Natural Gas would only increase this sum, he added.
“If we talk about reducing dependency on imports, we cannot afford not to avail ourselves of one of the main instruments available for this, energy savings,” he said.
“We should decide not just on greenhouse gas and renewable energy targets. We should also set a binding target for increasing energy efficiency.”
In January, the European Commission proposed a binding 40 per cent greenhouse gas reduction target for 2030 and a 27 per cent share for renewable energy in the continent’s mix, although individual EU states would not be bound by this.
Brussels officials privately say that the EC might still retain the right to introduce binding measures, if the EU as a whole veers too far from the end goal.
However energy efficiency was omitted from the 2030 picture, pending a review of the EU’s halting progress towards meeting a non-binding 20 per cent efficiency improvement for 2020, due to be published later this summer.
Diplomats say that in private talks, Berlin has moved closer to the United Kingdom position on increasing the proposed 2030 greenhouse gas reductions target beyond 40 per cent in UNFCCC talks, if other countries also pledge additional carbon savings.
However, the UK and some eastern European countries oppose binding energy efficiency targets, even if momentum to reconsider the issue is growing, in part due to the Ukraine crisis.
Tomorrow the German economics ministry and Danish climate and energy ministry are co-organising a workshop to discuss the need for three 2030 climate and energy targets in Brussels.
The German experience of creating thousands of craft jobs through building renovation programs after the financial crisis of 2008 may figure as an illustration of how growth and employment can be linked to energy saving policy.
Gunther Oettinger, the German energy commissioner, who has also come out for a binding efficiency target, told the Energy Council that winning European hearts and minds in the battle with Eurosceptics would be crucial to advancing the cause of energy efficiency.
“If we want to maintain a quality of life and have fridges that are just as cold but using less electricity, light bulbs that just provide light and do not heat up, then we need to win over the public and win the battle against the tabloids and Eurosceptics,” he said.
“In the European Parliament, we now have more Eurosceptics than ever before so now more than ever we need to have a coherent position between Council and the EC and only then will it make sense to maintain our position on energy efficiency in the 2030 package,” Mr Oettinger added.
The EU energy ministers also agreed to limit to seven per cent the proportion of Europe’s fuel mix that can be made up by first generation bio-fuels, over fears that their cultivation could lead to increased food prices or unsustainable land use changes.
