Fit for 55 package: Recasting the Energy Efficiency Directive

This briefing provides an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the Commission’s impact assessment (IA) accompanying the above-mentioned proposal, submitted on 14 July 2021 and referred to the European Parliament’s Committee on Industry, Research and Energy (ITRE). The proposal for a recast Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) is part of the Commission’s ‘Fit for 55’ package that aims to adapt EU law to the new EU objective of a minimum 55 % reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030. This objective was laid down in the new European Climate Law, adopted in June 2021, which puts the EU on the path to achieving climate neutrality (net zero GHG emissions) by 2050. As originally enacted, the EED (Directive 2012/27/EU) established a common framework for promoting energy efficiency to reach the EU’s 20 % energy efficiency target by 2020 (the target was set in the directive itself). The EED was amended by Directive (EU) 2018/2002, which set the more ambitious EU goal of improving energy efficiency by at least 32.5 % by 2030 and extended its validity beyond 2020 to help achieve the new goal.