Energy policy ideas for the next European Commission : from targets to investments

Abstract

Energy (and climate) will be high on the agenda of the next European Commission. EU citizens and industry expect a supply of energy that is affordable, secure, and sustainable. The National Energy and Climate Plans suggest that there is a widening gap between what Member States are willing to commit to at the national level, and what they think the European Union should achieve collectively for investments in energy efficiency and renewable energy. We run the same risk for the EU targets for clean tech manufacturing, and for critical raw materials extraction, processing and recycling. To address the gap, the next European Commission could: make Member States more accountable to live up to their national investment potential for energy efficiency and renewable energy; promote multilateral cooperation (and solidarity) among Member States for network infrastructure, resource adequacy and flexibility; strengthen the management of our global dependencies; and reinforce the EU institutional setup. Ideas to achieve these objectives include: an EU Energy and Climate Plan with investment progress tracking and recommendations for Member States; the modernization and Europeanization of capacity mechanisms; an upgraded European Resource Adequacy Assessment exercise beyond electricity and adequacy; a top-down EU networks vision; more EU funding and more powers for EU entities to allocate costs among Member States; more capacity building for national administrations; a reinforced ACER; a merger of the ENTSOs and ENNOH (and the EU DSO Entity) into a EU Energy Networks Entity; the creation of an EU Energy Agency (and an EU framework for national energy agencies). At FSR, we think these ideas merit a more thorough discussion, and we look forward to contributing to that discussion in the coming months.