Informal meeting of energy ministers in Valletta

EU energy ministers at their informal meeting in Valletta last Thursday generated a partially supported new initiative on clean energy for islands, but failed to agree on increased ambition for a collective 2030 energy efficiency target.

The meeting was chaired by the Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister, Konrad Mizzi.

The ”Clean Energy for EU islands” political declaration was signed by 14 member states (Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Spain and Sweden).

The initiative aims to help Europe’s 2,700 plus islands reduce reliance on energy imports by increasing the role of renew- able energies, introducing innovative technologies, creating a discussion forum, sharing best practices identified through pilot projects and supporting the creation of a long-term framework to promote funding and technical assistance.

However, no agreement emerged on a Commission proposal to revise the 2030 energy efficiency target under the Energy Efficiency Directive from 27 to 30 percent as included in the ‘Clean Energy for All Europeans’ package – a set of legislative proposals aimed to redesign EU’s electricity market and encourage transition to a low-carbon economy.

The current Energy Efficiency Directive only sets goals (national and EU) for 2020. According to the POLITICO news site Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, France, Sweden and Denmark backed the binding 30% target for 2030, Greece wanted it to be indicative only but this was opposed by Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and other Central European countries wanting to retain the proposed 27 per cent binding target but watered down to non-binding.

Malta failed to secure unanimous support for a compromise to keep the 30 percent goal by suggesting it should be non-binding, This outcome dampens prospects for agreement issue emerging from the formal Energy Council on 26 June, four days before the end of the Maltese Presidency.

Ireland’s Environment Minister Denis Naugthen told POLITICO that “some of my colleagues, because they are energy minis- ters, are very much focused on the energy aspect of this rather than the societal impact. It’s not just about energy efficiency and saving money on fuel it’s also about the impact it has on day-to-day lives. If we can’t find agreement to progress on this, then some other aspects of the clean energy package are going to be far more challenging. We cannot achieve the Paris targets for 2050 (the Paris Agreement on climate change which entered into force last November) unless we concentrate on what effective is the low hanging fruit, energy efficiency.”

POLITICO also reported Climate Action and Energy Commissioner Miguel Arias Cañete as arguing for sticking to the Commission’s proposal which only involved countries maintaining their current pace of reduction in primary energy consumption. A 30 percent energy efficiency target would also lead to lower gas import needs, but the Central European countries which would most benefit from buying less gas were also those most viscerally opposed to the efficiency proposal.

Ministers also failed to agree on further implementation Article 7 of the existing directive, an obligation on Member States to make yearly energy savings equivalent to 1.5 percent of annual sales to consumers.

Minister Mizzi stated that “a review mechanism is healthy because you are providing an incremental improvement throughout. If we don’t move in terms of flexibility in terms of Article 7, that may stall the whole process.”