Almut Bonhage

The UK stands no chance of meeting its greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets unless the Government takes urgent action to revive its failing energy efficiency policy.

A report by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee states that improving the energy efficiency of buildings will be vital to meeting climate change obligations, eradicating fuel poverty and lowering home energy bills.

Public investment in the U.K. has shrunk, and the rate of installations has gone backwards – with insulation measures installed in houses under Government schemes now around 95 per cent lower than in 2012.

The report also calls for more robust building regulations, finding that builders are currently able to exploit loopholes and build homes to outdated standards.

Read the report

The International Energy Agency has established an independent high-level global commission to examine how progress on energy efficiency can be rapidly accelerated through new and stronger policy action.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar of Ireland will be the honorary chair of the IEA Commission for Urgent Action on Energy Efficiency, composed of government ministers, top business executives and thought leaders from around the world.

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In order to estimate the impact of the EU’s climate and energy targets for 2030, the Commission has developed a group of scenarios called the EUCO scenarios.

The most recent, the EUCO3232.5 scenario, models the impact of achieving an energy efficiency target of 32.5% and a renewable energy target of 32%, as agreed in the Clean energy for all Europeans package.

This scenario was used to support the Commission’s June 2019 assessment of the draft National Energy and Climate Plans (NECPs), submitted by Member States.

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The Netherlands’ Minister of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, Eric Wiebes, sent a National Climate Agreement to the Parliament outlining how the Netherlands will have reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by half in 2030, compared to 1990 levels.

Letter to Parliament (English)

Measures (Dutch)

The European Commission is preparing the implementation of Horizon Europe, the EU research and innovation programme (2021-2027). The proposed budget is €100 billion. An online consultation has been launched.

The consultation will collect input which will inform the work to prepare a ‘Strategic Plan’ for Horizon Europe, which will then guide the work programmes and calls for proposals for Horizon Europe’s first four years (2021-2024).

The consultation will close on 8 September 2019.

More information here

The new Danish government pledges to strengthen its 2030 target to reduce emissions by 70% below the 1990 level. The political programme also refers to:

• energy efficiency improvements including requirements for energy savings in public buildings;
• a national strategy for sustainable construction;
• a comprehensive electrification strategy; and
• a ban on the sale of all new diesel and petrol cars from 2030.

read more (in Danish)

article in Climate Home news (in English)

The World Green Building Council Europe network and partners launched a new report ‘Creating an Energy Efficient Mortgage for Europe: the supporting role of the green building sector.’

The report argues that the finance and the green building sector must work together more closely to ensure that energy efficient mortgages will be made available to every borrower in Europe.

A pilot scheme has already seen 46 major banks signed up to develop new green lending products. City and regional governments including the Scottish government have also committed to support the initiative.

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The Irish government has published a Climate Action Plan setting out over 180 actions that need to be taken for Ireland to achieve its 2030 targets for carbon emissions, and put itself on track to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

It includes the delivery of a new Plan to retrofit 500,000 homes, with large groups of houses being retrofitted by the same contractor to reduce costs, smart finance, and easy pay back methods.

The plan also foresees an increase in the number of Sustainable Energy Communities to 1,500.

An online consultation has been launched.

More information here