BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 19. The European Commission invites the Parliament and Council to enable additional savings and energy efficiency gains in buildings through the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, and to uphold the ambition of the Commission proposal for a Regulation on Ecodesign for Sustainable Products, the rapid deployment of which will lead to further energy savings through improved energy and resource efficiency of a broad range of products, Trend reports with reference to the REPowerEU Plan presented by the European Commission.
“Pending agreement on the legislative measures, immediate energy savings can be made by changing our behaviour. The European Commission has launched, in cooperation with the International Energy Agency (IEA), a nine-point plan “Playing my part” for reducing energy use in the EU. Based on input from stakeholders, the IEA estimates that these types of short-term energy saving measures could achieve a 5% reduction in the demand for gas (around 13 bcm) and in that for oil (around 16 mtoe),” reads the documents.
Member States should also make full use of supporting measures such as reduced VAT rates for high efficiency heating systems and for insulation in buildings and other energy pricing measures, which encourage switching to heat pumps and purchase of more efficient appliances. Such measures should cushion social and distributional impacts, e.g. focusing on vulnerable households struggling to pay their energy bills and to manage the potential impact of the accelerated energy transition on the labour market, with immediate upskilling and reskilling needs.
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