Europe:

European Commission Launches the “Energy Union”: The EGEC Reaction (EGEC)

The European Commission has launched its “Framework strategy for a resilient Energy Union with a forward-looking climate change policy”.

The European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC) regrets that the Commission’s proposal:

• Lacks reference on renewables for heating and cooling to improve security of supply;
• Fails to see the synergies between energy efficiency and renewable energy, notably in the building sector;
• Fails to propose a strong, separate and governance for renewables and energy efficiency to ensure consistency and comparability of Member States’ policies;
• Fails to recognize that the internal energy market cannot be complete if only based on electricity and gas. A true internal energy market should cover heating as well.

However, we welcome the Commission’s announcement of new legislation for renewable energy, which should cover electricity as well as heating and the commitment to develop the next generation of renewable energy technologies.

For a successful Energy Union, we strongly believe that it should include the following additional action points:

• The swift phase-out of fossil fuels, for example in 2012 the gas sector was still flooded with €6.5 bn in subsidies;
• The need for the announced Heat Strategy to address both energy efficiency and renewable energy sources which are complementary, and to include an appropriate balance of policies for the renewable energy demand and supply;
• The financing of consumers’ higher upfront investment should also encompass the fuel switch to renewables in buildings.