Source: European Parliament
The Commission agrees on the importance of promoting energy efficiency, including energy savings. Energy efficiency is the cheapest, safest and cleanest way to reduce our reliance on fossil fuel imports from Russia, contribute to decarbonisation and increase EU’s competitiveness.
However, the Commission is currently not considering making 16 February the ‘European Day for Energy Saving and Sustainable Lifestyles’.
The Commission is dedicated to energy efficiency policy, including energy savings. The recently revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED)[1] made the headline EU target for energy efficiency binding and raised the ambition for energy efficiency across the board.
This includes the obligations for Member States to step up information awareness measures, including campaigns, and establish one-stop shops for energy efficiency.
Energy efficiency was one of the three main pillars of the REPowerEU Communication of 18 May 2022, which was accompanied by the EU Save Energy Communication.
In 2022, the Commission partnered with the International Energy Agency and launched the ‘Playing my part’ campaign[2], which outlined simple steps that citizens can take to reduce their energy use.
In 2024, the Commission organised a Citizens’ Panel on energy efficiency to promote the topic among citizens. The Panel convened 150 randomly selected citizens representing all Member States, who discussed actions which could be taken on energy efficiency and adopted 13 final recommendations for the Commission.
The importance of energy efficiency for competitiveness, energy security and decarbonisation was recently confirmed in the Clean Industrial Deal and the Affordable Energy Action Plan.