EU Climate and energy framework

EGEC, the voice of the European geothermal industry, calls on the European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen to create a European internal market for heat in an open letter published today on EGEC’s website.

The European Commission announced a ‘Renovation Wave’ to work alongside Member States in delivering energy efficiency improvements in public and private buildings. This is a start. But it is still a long way from what is required. EGEC Geothermal proposes three simple steps to institutionalise ownership, management and delivery of the systematic removal of fossil fuels in all types of buildings so that the sector is compatible with the Paris Agreement long before 2050.

On 14 January 2020 the European Commission proposed a Just Transition Mechanism to mobilise at least €100 billion (over the period 2021-2027) to support regions most affected by the transition towards the zero-carbon economy.

The European Union is looking to engage a deep decarbonisation of the economy, which obliges looking at synergies between sectors to make the best out of the renewable energy installed. The geothermal sector stands at the crossroad of such smart energy systems, and EGEC is putting forward proposals on what should be done for this process to be implemented successfully.

The European Commission did a public consultation about its planned Climate Law. The Climate Law is one of the main political committment of the President of the European Commission for the EU to deliver on the compliance of the Paris Agreement.

As part of the Decarbheat initiative, which gathers several heating and cooling industry associations with the objective to advocate for European policies that are in line with the decarbonisation of the heating and cooling sector, EGEC co-signed a press release on the topic of the European Green Deal.

EGEC, as part of the Coalition for Higher Ambition, a unique gathering of businesses, investor groups, trade unions, local and regional authorities, and NGOs, published a statement to urge the Commission to come forward with a proposal to increase the EU’s climate target to at least -55% of GHG emissions reductions by 2030 compared to 1990 levels within the first 100 days of their mandate. It is the first time that this broad group of stakeholders take a joint position on the EU’s 2030 target and its revision timeline.

The European renewable industries welcome the decision by President Elect of the Commission von der Leyen to enshrine the objective of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 into EU law.

Read our letter to Mr Timmermans, Executive Vice-President of the European Commission, outlining key requirements to make the European Green Deal sustainable, inclusive and effective.

The Ecodesign framework is undergoing review in order to adapt the energy performance requirement and the labelling of applicances for heating and cooling in particular to reflect changes in technologies.