The European Parliament and Council presidency have reached a provisional agreement to reduce final energy consumption at the EU level by 11.7% in 2030 compared to the forecast consumption. EU member states will be given flexibility in reaching the target. The provisional agreement states that the EU must collectively reduce its final energy consumption by at least 11.7% in 2030, compared to energy consumption forecasts for 2030 made in 2020. The EU's final energy consumption will have an upper limit of 763 million tons of oil equivalent and primary consumption of 993 million tons of oil equivalent.
The Council stated that "the consumption limit for final consumption will be binding for member states collectively, whereas the primary energy consumption target will be indicative." All EU member states are expected to contribute to the efforts to reduce energy consumption by providing indicative national targets, which are expected to be updated and unveiled this year and next.
The EU aims to reduce its energy consumption and accelerate the rollout of renewable energy as part of its ambition to become a net-zero bloc by 2050, in order to cut dependence on fossil fuels. Limiting reliance on fossil fuel imports became especially important for the EU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine prompted Europe to ban seaborne imports of Russian oil and work to ditch imports of Russian gas.
The EU surpassed its target for cutting gas demand this winter, according to Eurostat data released last month. The data showed that the EU's winter demand had dropped by 19.3% compared to the five-year average, exceeding the 15% goal set to help the EU survive the winter. In addition, natural gas consumption in OECD Europe fell by an estimated 13% in 2022, its steepest decline in absolute terms in history, according to the International Energy Agency's quarterly gas report released last week.
The provisional agreement reached on Friday still needs to be approved by committees at the European Parliament and Council and formally adopted to come into effect. The EU's efforts to reduce energy consumption will contribute to global efforts to tackle climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating the transition to renewable energy sources.
