According to a draft European Commission document the European Union is almost on track to reach its goal of improving energy savings by a fifth by 2020 and may consider a significantly higher target for the next decade.
Reuters Newsagency, which has seen the document, reports energy efficiency has risen up the agenda in Europe as member states seek ways to reduce dependency on imported fossil fuels in the context of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
That crisis has led to the cut-off of Russian gas to Ukraine.
EU heads of state and government will debate efficiency and energy security this week as concern mounts that the cut-off could result in knock-on disruptions to EU supplies.
An EU goal to improve energy savings by 20 per cent by 2020 versus projected use, or business as usual, was initially a non-binding target.
Member states were expected to meet only about half of it.
Reuters reports that in a progress report, the EU Commission found that the bloc will achieve energy savings of around 18 to 19 per cent, after the Danish EU presidency in 2012 pushed through a law to enforce the 20 per cent efficiency target.
It concluded there is no need for extra “emergency EU legislation” to bring member states into line.
Looking to a set of 2030 energy targets, expected to be agreed provisionally by member states later this year and turned into a formal legislative proposal early next year, the EC document said that an energy savings goal of 30 per cent in 2030 is required to maintain momentum.
Reuters reports an even higher goal of 35 per cent could be considered “taking into account the increased importance of energy efficiency in the context of the European Energy Security Strategy”, it said, referring to the EC’s report on how to make energy supply less vulnerable.
The document was not expected to be made public until July, and the EC says it does not comment on unpublished documents.
Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said, however, that the debate continued on the precise level of a new efficiency goal.
Those reluctant to push for more ambitious goals object to the upfront cost of efficiency measures, but the European Parliament earlier this year backed a 40 per cent goal, which is also supported by environment campaigners and the building insulation industry.
Friends of the Earth Europe cites modelling carried out by the EC, which shows a 40 per cent efficiency target could reduce the amount of imported gas from nations such as Russia by 40 per cent.
At the lower end of the range, an efficiency target of 27 per cent would reduce gas imports by 16 per cent compared with 2010 levels.
