Periodic Reporting for period 1 - EEW4 (Energy Efficiency Watch 4)
Reporting period: 2019-06-01 to 2020-11-30
The Energy Efficiency Watch 4 (EEW4) project aims at ensuring the achievements of the targets under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) by supporting policy makers in EU Member States (EU MS) to successfully implement energy efficiency policies. EEW4 will generate new insights on the link between policies and narratives, develop new narratives and provide policy recommendations. The project was built upon the successful work and findings of EEW projects 1-3 (2007-2010, 2011-2014, 2015-2018).
From 2007, stimulated by the development of National Energy Efficiency Plans, EE legislation in EU MS evolved from theoretical models, which had hardly been tested in practice in many countries, to an abundant tool box of policy instruments, many of which have been successfully implemented. EEW 1-3 analysed the mechanisms of how to encourage mutual learning among EU MS, showing that comprehensive policy packages are more effective than single, non-combined measures, illustrating good practice and providing recommendations on how to further improve the process. Comparing the starting point in 2007 with the current situation shows that the process of shaping policy instruments has been faster and more successful than initially expected. However, it also shows that the implementation of these policy instruments is very unevenly distributed among EU MS, on overall level being too slow for target achievement and not in good proportion to the economic potential of energy efficiency options. Overall, many "ups-and-downs" in the level of ambition of policies were observed - often triggered by political changes after elections. However, in some countries, a higher resilience to these oscillations could be observed, enabling a stable policy environment with positive impact.
A key finding of EEW3 was that successful implementation depends to great extent on the existence of an underlying national or regional narrative about key benefits of energy efficiency, accepted and shared by stakeholders and also significant parts of the population. If such narratives don’t exist, energy efficiency is often controversially debated or ignored, leading to frequent changes of policies and unambitious implementation of measures. EEW4 therefore analyses successful narratives, develops new ones and uses them to support ambitious EE policies in the EU. EEW4 has three main objectives: 1: Roll-out of the revised EU directives on energy efficiency under the umbrella of the Clean Energy Package, primarily the EED and EPBD. 2: Generate new insights on the link between policies and narratives. 3: Apply this knowledge for narrative building and testing.
From 2007, stimulated by the development of National Energy Efficiency Plans, EE legislation in EU MS evolved from theoretical models, which had hardly been tested in practice in many countries, to an abundant tool box of policy instruments, many of which have been successfully implemented. EEW 1-3 analysed the mechanisms of how to encourage mutual learning among EU MS, showing that comprehensive policy packages are more effective than single, non-combined measures, illustrating good practice and providing recommendations on how to further improve the process. Comparing the starting point in 2007 with the current situation shows that the process of shaping policy instruments has been faster and more successful than initially expected. However, it also shows that the implementation of these policy instruments is very unevenly distributed among EU MS, on overall level being too slow for target achievement and not in good proportion to the economic potential of energy efficiency options. Overall, many "ups-and-downs" in the level of ambition of policies were observed - often triggered by political changes after elections. However, in some countries, a higher resilience to these oscillations could be observed, enabling a stable policy environment with positive impact.
A key finding of EEW3 was that successful implementation depends to great extent on the existence of an underlying national or regional narrative about key benefits of energy efficiency, accepted and shared by stakeholders and also significant parts of the population. If such narratives don’t exist, energy efficiency is often controversially debated or ignored, leading to frequent changes of policies and unambitious implementation of measures. EEW4 therefore analyses successful narratives, develops new ones and uses them to support ambitious EE policies in the EU. EEW4 has three main objectives: 1: Roll-out of the revised EU directives on energy efficiency under the umbrella of the Clean Energy Package, primarily the EED and EPBD. 2: Generate new insights on the link between policies and narratives. 3: Apply this knowledge for narrative building and testing.
Objective 1 to discuss and disseminate the essence of revised EU directives with decision-makers and the relevant stakeholder community was ensured through network activities and events at EU, national, regional and municipal levels in all EU MS, and through dissemination of key findings via the EEW website, social media and newsletters.
Objective 2 to create the required connection between EE policy instruments and supportive narratives, is achieved through input from stakeholder groups on elements for narrative building which can support policy implementation in the respective country and sector context, and through analysing the input by a group of experts.
Objective 3 to build new narratives which help to increase the level of implementation of EE policy instruments in EU MS is ensured through developing and testing new narratives in the context of 10 case studies and providing policy recommendations. The project partners have started to develop the preliminary case studies, ensuring a good variety of different categories of narratives and key benefits playing a role in them. Pointed narratives for 7 case studies have been distilled from the input and will be consolidated soon.
Key elements of EU EE legislation were disseminated to MPs, MEPs and decision-makers and feedback on EE policies collected through parliamentary workshops and an Inter-Parliamentary Meeting in 5 EU MS as well as 1 Pan-European Parliamentary Webinar. Over 100 MPs and MEPs, over 200 experts from governments, European Commission and the energy community were reached through Parliamentary events. Feedback and narrative elements by the business community in 5 EU MS was collected through business stakeholder workshops, reaching 125 business experts. The expert feedback on implementation of EE policies was collected in all 27 EU MS through the survey, with over 1,200 stakeholders reached. The EEW-Conference 2020, attended by 250 participants, also allowed for gathering valuable insights for narrative development. More than 200 energy experts were reached by the EEW4 network partners at regional and local level.
Objective 2 to create the required connection between EE policy instruments and supportive narratives, is achieved through input from stakeholder groups on elements for narrative building which can support policy implementation in the respective country and sector context, and through analysing the input by a group of experts.
Objective 3 to build new narratives which help to increase the level of implementation of EE policy instruments in EU MS is ensured through developing and testing new narratives in the context of 10 case studies and providing policy recommendations. The project partners have started to develop the preliminary case studies, ensuring a good variety of different categories of narratives and key benefits playing a role in them. Pointed narratives for 7 case studies have been distilled from the input and will be consolidated soon.
Key elements of EU EE legislation were disseminated to MPs, MEPs and decision-makers and feedback on EE policies collected through parliamentary workshops and an Inter-Parliamentary Meeting in 5 EU MS as well as 1 Pan-European Parliamentary Webinar. Over 100 MPs and MEPs, over 200 experts from governments, European Commission and the energy community were reached through Parliamentary events. Feedback and narrative elements by the business community in 5 EU MS was collected through business stakeholder workshops, reaching 125 business experts. The expert feedback on implementation of EE policies was collected in all 27 EU MS through the survey, with over 1,200 stakeholders reached. The EEW-Conference 2020, attended by 250 participants, also allowed for gathering valuable insights for narrative development. More than 200 energy experts were reached by the EEW4 network partners at regional and local level.
EEW4 will significantly impact the degree and quality of implementation of EE policies.
The planned impact is two-fold:
1) Activation of the full savings potential of policies
EEW3 showed that the factual savings from policy instruments often stay behind the initially assumed potential. This is often not due to a lack of understanding how to properly design the instrument, but due to lack of proper implementation. EEW4 aims at activating the full savings potential of these policies through supportive narratives. Narratives facilitate transition roadmaps in the respective contexts and thus are important preconditions for full implementation. EEW4 will directly improve the performance of ten policies or policy packages. Indirectly, it will trigger further narratives by learning effects and policy recommendations.
Key elements of EU EE legislation were disseminated to MPs, MEPs and decision-makers across MS and feedback on EE policies collected through Parliamentary events, contributing to better understand effective implementation of EE policies. Via the online survey, EEW4 collected feedback on the implementation and development of EE policies in all EU MS, helping to identify potentials and developing recommendations for better policy implementation. EEW4 collected feedback and narrative elements voiced by the business community in five EU MS through business stakeholder workshops.
2) Improvement of the skills of public officers and other policy makers
Improved narratives developed under EEW4 will have an impact on the capability of policy makers to not only set up policy instruments following the rules of the directives, but also to ensure a better degree of ownership among the target groups of the policies in the respective countries. Understanding how to combine policies with supportive narratives will lead to a higher degree of personal intrinsic motivation of decision-makers and stakeholders.
EEW4 has already reached over 1,500 relevant stakeholders, in detail about 300 MPs, MEPs and representatives of government institutions, the European Commission and energy community representatives, about 200 energy experts on regional and local levels, about 125 business experts and over 1,200 experts via the survey. 250 EE stakeholders attended the EEW-Conference 2020.
With the EU Green Deal and the upcoming revisions of the EED and EPBD, EEW4 gains new relevance, feeding in early and impacting the decision-making procedure. Especially the policy outreach events, like the national parliamentary workshops, IPMs, meetings with DG ENER, MEPs and the EU Council Presidency, intend to improve the understanding of EE and the knowledge of decision makers.
The planned impact is two-fold:
1) Activation of the full savings potential of policies
EEW3 showed that the factual savings from policy instruments often stay behind the initially assumed potential. This is often not due to a lack of understanding how to properly design the instrument, but due to lack of proper implementation. EEW4 aims at activating the full savings potential of these policies through supportive narratives. Narratives facilitate transition roadmaps in the respective contexts and thus are important preconditions for full implementation. EEW4 will directly improve the performance of ten policies or policy packages. Indirectly, it will trigger further narratives by learning effects and policy recommendations.
Key elements of EU EE legislation were disseminated to MPs, MEPs and decision-makers across MS and feedback on EE policies collected through Parliamentary events, contributing to better understand effective implementation of EE policies. Via the online survey, EEW4 collected feedback on the implementation and development of EE policies in all EU MS, helping to identify potentials and developing recommendations for better policy implementation. EEW4 collected feedback and narrative elements voiced by the business community in five EU MS through business stakeholder workshops.
2) Improvement of the skills of public officers and other policy makers
Improved narratives developed under EEW4 will have an impact on the capability of policy makers to not only set up policy instruments following the rules of the directives, but also to ensure a better degree of ownership among the target groups of the policies in the respective countries. Understanding how to combine policies with supportive narratives will lead to a higher degree of personal intrinsic motivation of decision-makers and stakeholders.
EEW4 has already reached over 1,500 relevant stakeholders, in detail about 300 MPs, MEPs and representatives of government institutions, the European Commission and energy community representatives, about 200 energy experts on regional and local levels, about 125 business experts and over 1,200 experts via the survey. 250 EE stakeholders attended the EEW-Conference 2020.
With the EU Green Deal and the upcoming revisions of the EED and EPBD, EEW4 gains new relevance, feeding in early and impacting the decision-making procedure. Especially the policy outreach events, like the national parliamentary workshops, IPMs, meetings with DG ENER, MEPs and the EU Council Presidency, intend to improve the understanding of EE and the knowledge of decision makers.