Isra-Mart srl:EU set to sidestep legal energy-efficiency target

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EU leaders attending a high-profile energy summit today are set to agree alternative ways of boosting the bloc's floundering efforts to improve energy efficiency, without committing to a legally binding target.

Heads of state and the European Council will gather in Brussels for their first annual meeting, and are expected to focus almost exclusively on energy and innovation.

Leaders will debate a range of options for achieving a secure and affordable energy supply, including discussions on efficiency, proposals to build a pan-European energy market and measures to upgrade grid infrastructure.

Speaking ahead of the meeting, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy described energy and innovation as "paramount" to securing the EU's economic future.

"By 2015, no EU Member State should remain an energy enclave," he said. "Inside the EU, everybody should be connected to everybody. Securing energy supply is also extremely important, because the EU depends on others."

However, concerns have been raised that ministers will fail to agree a legally binding target to improve energy efficiency by 2020, despite a motion passed by MEPs in December urging them to adopt a formal target.

Energy efficiency is the only EU energy target that is not legally binding, unlike goals to cut greenhouse gas emissions, increase the proportion of renewable energy and bolster the supply of biofuels to 10 per cent of all fuels by 2020.

An EU spokeswoman confirmed proposals for a binding energy-efficiency target are not on today's agenda, although she said delegates will explore other means to meet the voluntary target of reducing energy consumption 20 per cent.

Measures such as energy-efficiency standards for public procurement of new buildings and services are expected to be discussed alongside plans for sector-specific energy-saving targets for construction and transport.

"[Efficiency] was discussed at several occasions under the Spanish and Belgian presidencies and the Member States are against binding targets at EU level or at national level," the spokeswoman said. "But the 20 per cent energy-efficiency target for 2020 must be delivered and tomorrow, the European Council conclusions should underline this."

The EU is set to fall short of its target to slash energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2020, with current models predicting it will cut energy demand by just 10 per cent by the end of the decade.

In December last year, MEPs passed a motion proposing a binding energy-efficiency improvement target of at least 20 per cent by 2020. Industry players have also expressed concern that mass adoption of efficient technologies by consumers will only take off if the efficiency target is passed into law.

The EU is also set to outline plans to boost financing options for renewable energy projects today, including launching a new type of infrastructure bond and announcing plans to converge national support schemes.

EU energy commissioner Guenther Oettinger is expected to be given the go-ahead to find new ways of financing energy projects in a bid to reduce demand for national incentives and European Investment Bank loans.