Billions of euros will be needed to improve energy efficiency across the EU. But with budget cuts the order of the day in many countries, the European Commission faces a battle to persuade member states to allocate extra funding to reducing energy consumption.
The Commission has set out plans to bolster energy efficiency across the EU, to help it meet its target of cutting consumption by 20% by 2020. The Commission has set aside €4.4 billion from the European Regional Development Fund for the 2007-13 funding period to help member states renovate public buildings or for improvements in energy efficiency for the residential sector.
It is part of a €9.2bn energy fund in the EU’s cohesion policy. However, only 20% of that amount has so far been allocated by member states.
The Commission is urging member states to “lead by example” in implementing the use of energy-efficient products and services in the renovation of public buildings and by adopting binding energy-efficiency targets. Other measures aim at fostering steady improvements by energy producers and consumers.
The Council of European Municipalities and Regions has questioned setting an EU-wide target aimed at forcing member states to renovate 3% of public buildings each year. The group said the aims were “unrealistic” because of the economic crisis. Environmental and business organisations said finance was the principal barrier to meeting the 2020 goals.
But Catherine Pearce, senior policy officer at the European Environmental Bureau, insisted that member states should adopt binding efficiency targets irrespective of the budgetary constraints. Pearce said governments should take the lead by investing in publicly-funded projects to help foster wider and more lucrative private investment.
Pearce added that there were untapped EU funds available of which regional authorities were unaware. “Member states have difficulties trying to access the money. They need greater technical assistance on how to access it,” she said.
Alexandre Affre, senior adviser on the environment and energy at BusinessEurope, which represents employers and industrial federations across the EU, said the private sector was willing to play its part, but governments and the EU had to take the lead.
Investment in renovating public buildings would create new jobs and create economic growth, he said. “The EU and member states should make energy efficiency a priority,” said Affre.
Sources of funding include €1bn from the EU’s economic recovery programme to help fund public-private partnerships in researching and developing new efficiency technologies. Grants from the €730 million Intelligent Energy Europe programme could help local and regional authorities accelerate energy-efficiency projects. The programme also provides technical assistance through the European Local Energy Assistance programme, to advise on getting access to EU funding.
A €221m investment fund operated jointly by the Commission and the European Investment Bank, to be launched in July, will also aim to assist local and national authorities in deploying EU funds for energy savings projects.