Progress in the Implementation of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive through the Lens of the National Annual Reports

Abstract

Following the adoption of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) in 2012, the Member States of the European Union implemented various policies and measures to meet the Directive's requirements, including national energy efficiency targets for 2020. The progress made at national level is tracked through the Annual Reports provided by Member States to the Commission in accordance with the EED Article 24. To provide valuable insights of the actions taken by Member States towards increasing energy efficiency in various sectors of their economies, this paper reviews the assessment of the Annual Reports (AR) submitted since 2013 – the year in which the first reports were due – until the latest Annual Reports of 2018. Notably, the implementation status of key EED provisions such as Article 5 on the exemplary role of public bodies’ buildings and Article 7 on Energy Efficiency Obligation Schemes (EEOS) is discussed, providing a historical view of the progress made from the inception of the various actions until now. The need of more efforts, in particular with the Article 5 implementation, is identified. The national contributions towards the EU 2020 target are also discussed, including an analysis of the latest energy consumption trends and reasons for which energy consumption remained stable or increased, as given by Member States in their reports. Lessons learned from the EED experience so far are drawn that provide valuable input for the successful implementation of the future requirements under the new Energy Union Governance.