Energy Efficiency Watch 5

With the European Green Deal, the Fit for 55 agenda and RePowerEU, energy efficiency has again been recognised as an important element of EU’s political agenda. Policy makers are progressively understanding energy efficiency as a key enabler for a low-cost and rapid decarbonisation of the energy system, and for reaching climate and energy targets in 2030 and 2050. It is also one of the remedies of the energy crisis.

Energy Efficiency Watch 5 (EEW5) is a 3-year project under the European Union LIFE programme (within the Clean Energy Transition section – CET).

EEW5 supports the public sector at all governance levels in an ambitious and high-quality implementation of the European Green Deal and its energy efficiency (EE) policies (mainly the Energy Efficiency Directive EED) by developing meaningful narratives for different national and regional contexts and comprehensive policy information.

The Green Deal raised the levels of ambition for the energy transition and a comprehensive revision of EU energy policies has been completed. This increased ambition level and the overarching target of climate neutrality require new approaches in policy making and support. Also, in order to achieve the speed of policy making that is needed, policy makers on EU, national, regional and local levels need new tools and up-to-date information to adapt these ambition levels into their specific contexts.

The overarching objective of EEW5 is to support enabling narratives for the European Green Deal, putting more emphasis on a) increased competitiveness and b) a better quality of life and thus creating the necessary buy-in of larger groups of society across all EU Member States.

Please find more information on https://www.energy-efficiency-watch.org/

Dislaimer:

This project has received funding from the European Union LIFE programme under Grant Agreement 101076918-LIFE21-CET-POLICY-EEW5. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the authors only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Background of Energy Efficiency Watch

The cross party and cross country initiative "Energy Intelligent Europe", composed of the Members of the European Parliament Anders Wijkman (PPE), Mechtild Rothe (PSE), Fiona Hall (ALDE), Claude Turmes (Greens) and Umberto Guidoni (GUE) together with the national Parliamentarians Jorge Moreira da Silva (Portugal, PPE), Alan Whitehead (UK, Labour Party), Pavel Gantar (Slovenia, Liberal Democrats), Boris van der Ham (Netherlands, Lib. Dem.), Anne Grete Holmsgaard (Denmark, Greens) and Ulrich Kelber (Germany, SPD) call for:"ACTION, NOT TALK" and for an "ENERGY EFFICIENCY WATCH" with the aim of making Europe the most energy and transport efficient economy in the world.

With this initiative the European and national Parliamentarians aim at creating a policy for increased energy efficiency in the EU to guarantee Europe’s energy supply and to accomplish the huge challenges we are facing today. The objective is to bring energy efficiency technologies into action wherever and whenever possible. A close co-operation between European, national, local and regional level and all involved stakeholders is needed to act – not only talk- and to watch that energy efficiency measures and properly implemented.

The Energy Efficiency Watch provides Parliamentarians with the information on the state of play regarding the NEEAPs in all 28 EU Member States and contributes to exchange information on best energy efficiency practices. This initiative should also help raise awareness on the NEEAPs in all EU 28 Member States.

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Energy Efficiency Watch 1

In the beginning of 2006, the above-mentioned Parliamentarians called for an initiative to support energy efficiency in Europe. The result was an Energy Efficiency Watch project which became one of the major tools in implementing energy efficiency legislation in the EU.

The Energy Efficiency Watch 1 project evaluated national Energy Efficiency Action Plans 1 (NEEAPs) and showed good policy examples and highlighted missing elements in the NEEAPs.

Even though the main target group were Parliamentarians and civil servants in national administrations, industry and NGOs were used as input providers and dissemination partners.

Energy Efficiency Watch 2

Energy Efficiency Watch later continued thanks to the Energy Efficiency Watch 2 project which was running from mid-2010 to mid-2013. Based on an EU-wide survey and NEEAPs screening and broad consultation, Energy Efficiency Watch 2 prepared 28 country reports providing an overview of national energy efficiency measures and their implementation in all EU Member States.

Energy Efficiency Watch 3

The Energy Efficiency Watch 3 project (EEW3) was a three years project started on the 19th of August 2014 and ended on 18 of August 2017. The project aimed at facilitating the implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive and support market transition by collecting information on the implementation of energy efficiency policies and providing this information to a variety of stakeholders such as European Parliament, European Commission, national, regional, local policy makers and experts.

The core objective of EEW3 was to establish a constant feedback loop on the implementation of European and national energy efficiency policies and thus enable mutual learning on effective policy making across the EU. EEW3 screens progress of national policies, looks into legislative documents, seeks experts´ knowledge via an EU-wide survey and creates new consultation platforms with a wide spectrum of stakeholders (parliamentarians, regions, cities, business and expert stakeholders).

Energy Efficiency Watch 4

Energy Efficiency Watch 4 (EEW4) is a HORIZON 2020 project, coordination and support action, aiming at supporting policy makers in EU MS in improving the degree of successful implementation of policy instruments for energy efficiency, and thus contribute to reaching the target of Energy Efficiency Directive (EED).

EEW4 has three main objectives, which will be evaluated through performance indicators, and continuously reviewed through milestones and deliverables. These objectives are:

Objective 1: Discuss and broadly disseminate the essence of revised EU directives on energy efficiency under the umbrella of the Clean Energy Package (CEP), primarily on EED and EPBD, with decision makers and relevant stakeholders. The objective will be reached through the following activities:

· Events at European and national parliaments

· Events at regional and municipal levels in all EU MS

· Dissemination of findings and results via website, social media and a brochure.

Objective 2: Create a strong link between energy efficiency policies triggered by the new EU directives EEW and EPBD, and supportive narratives. This will be achieved through:

· Collecting input from various stakeholder groups on elements for narrative building which can support policy implementation in the respective country and sector context

- MEPs

- National Parliaments

- Regional and local energy agencies

- Scientific community

- Business stakeholders

· Structuring and analyzing the input by a group of experienced experts in the project team, supported by selected external experts and a focus group from the various stakeholder groups.

Objective 3: Develop and test new narratives and provide policy recommendations. This will be achieved through:

· Writing ten case studies, in which the interaction between the implementation of policy instruments and supportive narratives is shown in different country and sector contexts

· Testing these case studies with a variety of stakeholders and based on their feedback develop a narrative toolbox and successful narratives.

The relevant findings on the conjunction between policy instruments and complementary narratives will be summarized in a 5-page document, tailored to policy makers and further influencers from the EE community. The document will provide condensed insight on lessons learned and will show ways how to further increase the ambition level of policies by an appropriate narrative.

For more information visit the webpage: http://www.energy-efficiency-watch.org