EED RECAST – Support in the negotiations and the development of guidelines for EED implementation

Energy efficiency is one of the key pillars for the EU to deliver its energy and climate targets in the coming years. The importance for strong energy efficiency targets is proving to be more crucial in the current crisis initiated through the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the resulting urgency to reduce the EU’s dependency on Russian fossil fuels. Against this background, the negotiations on the Commission’s proposal of the recast of EED become even more important. The initial proposal (made as part of the ‘Fit for 55‘ package in 2021 under the European Green Deal legislation) foresaw the need for an increased and binding EU energy efficiency target of at least 9% in 2030 compared to the projections of the 2020 Reference Scenario (787 Mtoe and 1023 Mtoe in final and primary energy terms respectively). In the REPowerEU Plan, proposed by the Commission in May 2022, the ambition of the proposed target was further increased to 13%, as a response to the invasion and emphasizes the crucial role ambitious energy efficiency targets will need to play in the path to independence and climate neutrality.

The sound design and implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive and its articles is crucial for meeting the energy and climate targets of the European Union and to accelerate Europe’s move towards energy independence. The technical assistance in this assignment will provide hands-on support to the Commission in the negotiation process of the trilogues to design a directive that is able to deliver the necessary impacts and address the key challenges. In addition, this assignment will also play a crucial role in the actual implementation by developing guidance documents for the articles covered within the scope of this project, namely articles 2,3,4,11,20,21,22,24,27 and related annexes. These documents will support Member States and other relevant actors to understand the legal obligations and to provide them with examples of best practices on the effective and sound implementation of these articles.