In its June 2nd report, the High Level Group on Competitiveness, Energy and the Environment (HLG), established to “explore ways to unleash the growth potential of product industries by further integrating competitiveness, energy and environmental policies”, failed to recognise that markets need to be transformed to promote the diffusion of existing stateof- the-art energy efficient technology. Only this will turn European investment in “energy efficiency” into real “energy savings” in Europe. The HLG thus ignored the huge, untapped potential of using a broader range of market mechanisms to promote competitiveness, achieve energy savings and contribute to Kyoto goals.
According to household appliance makers in Europe, represented by CECEDi, the HLG has missed a golden opportunity to introduce some truly innovative thinking into the energy efficiency debate, which is what is needed of policymakers in order to turn energy efficiency into energy savings. At least as far as our sector is concerned, the short sightedness displayed in the energy efficiency recommendations puts the HLG’s credibility into question.
European governments must play a leading role in ensuring that out-of-date energy-inefficient electrical equipment currently in use all across Europe is rapidly replaced with state-of-the art products because this will result in massive energy savings and promote the competitiveness of European industry. CECED estimates that 22 Mt of CO2 emission reductions could be achieved by replacing 188 million outdated appliances that are currently in use in Europe, with new energy efficient appliances. Calling for new standards ““ as the HLG does ““ is inadequate when the existing cutting edge gear is already available but still on the shop shelves.
“It is sad to see that the High Level Group has completely missed the point!” says Luigi Meli, director-general of CECED, “The challenge now is not to promote new dynamic efficiency standards, as the High Level Group demands, but rather to accelerate the diffusion of efficient appliances into European homes, replacing old gear.”
For the past 10 years CECED members have invested €10bn to meet ambitious energy efficiency targets and have ensured that a rising number of highly energy-efficient appliances are available on the market across its product ranges. Our sector has produced cutting-edge energy efficient technologies, such as A+ and A++ standard refrigerators that use some 40% less electricity than equivalent models consumed 10 years ago. Yet consumers hold on to these older models wasting energy in homes all across Europe.
This has been recognised by the European Parliament. In contrast to the High Level Group, it has strongly emphasised the importance of getting existing technology into active service.
In its Resolution on the European Commission’s Green Paper on energy efficiency last week, the European Parliament called for measures such as fiscal incentives to promote market transformation. It states that “taxation plays a prominent role in enhancing energy efficiency” and “Member States’ national tax systems [should] discriminate in favour of energy efficient practices”. For our industry this could typically mean tax credits on appliance manufacturers’ revenue for the production and sale of energy-efficient appliances.
CECED calls on the Commission to heed Parliament’s requests and recognise this huge, untapped potential in its upcoming Energy Efficiency Action Plan. We call on the HLG to seriously discuss the diffusion of existing cutting-edge technology in its ad-hoc working group on “drivers for investment in innovative technologies, in power generation and energy efficiency” and to take our views on board in its future recommendations.
For further questions, please contact Luigi Meli on +32 2 706 82 90.
i CECED represents the household appliance industry in Europe. Its member companies employ over 200,000 people, are mainly based in Europe, and have a turnover of about €40 billion. If upstream and downstream business is taken together, the sector employs over 500,000 people. Direct Members are Ar§elik, BSH Bosch und Siemens Hausger¤te, Candy Group, De’Longhi, Electrolux Holdings, Fagor, Gorenje, Liebherr, Indesit Company, Miele, Philips, SEB and Whirlpool Europe. CECED’s member associations cover the following countries: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey and the United Kingdom.