Earlier this month, European Commissioner for Energy Kadri Simson presented a series of proposals to align the activities of the European Commission with the goals of the European Green Deal and to match the EU’s energy policies with Europe’s climate ambitions.

These new proposals stem from the Commission’s ambitions to push forward on the road to climate neutrality by 2050, and they reflect Commissioner Simson’s key areas of work: energy efficiency, renewable energy and energy system integration.

The State of the Energy Union Report focuses on different aspects of EU energy policy and looks at the Energy Union's contribution to Europe's long-term climate goals. Individual assessments of the Member States’ National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs) were conducted to provide information on the pathway and ambition of each Member State towards the current 2030 climate and energy targets. The overall assessment shows that the Member States are capable of meeting these targets and are mostly making good progress towards them.

Given that buildings are accountable for about 40% of the EU's energy consumption, the Renovation Wave Strategy aims at improving the energy performance of buildings by doubling renovation rates in the next ten years and ensuring renovations lead to a higher energy and resources efficiency.

This strategy will focus on three main areas:

• decarbonisation of heating and cooling;
• tackling energy poverty and worst-performing buildings;
• renovation of public buildings (e.g. schools and administrative buildings).

“The green recovery starts at home. With the Renovation Wave, we will tackle many barriers that today make renovation complex, expensive and time consuming, holding back much needed action”, Simson stressed.

In November, the European Commission will adopt a strategy on Offshore Renewable Energy which will play an important role in helping the EU reach its climate objectives.

Ongoing #COVID19 crisis means that this #EndPoverty Day is more important than ever. Over 30 million Europeans struggle to pay their energy bills. @EU_Commission 🇪🇺wants to remedy this with our #Renovationwave, which will help to reduce energy bills & improve living conditions. pic.twitter.com/gjPnh4rGWg

— Kadri Simson (@KadriSimson) October 17, 2020

Photo credit: European Union 2019 - Source: EP / Ph. Bussin