PURPOSE: to define the framework for the governance of the Energy Union and climate action.
LEGISLATIVE ACT: Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Action, amending Regulations (EC) No 663/2009 and (EC) No 715/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Directives 94/22/EC, 98/70/EC, 2009/31/EC, 2009/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012/27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council, Council Directives 2009/119/EC and (EU) 2015/652 and repealing Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
CONTENT: this Regulation establishes a governance mechanism to:
- implement strategies and measures designed to meet the objectives and targets of the Energy Union and the long-term Union greenhouse gas emissions commitments consistent with the Paris Agreement, and for the first ten-year period, from 2021 to 2030, in particular the Union's 2030 targets for energy and climate;
- stimulate cooperation between Member States, including, where appropriate, at regional level, designed to achieve the objectives and targets of the Energy Union;
- ensure the timeliness, transparency, accuracy, consistency, comparability and completeness of reporting by the Union and its Member States to the UNFCCC and Paris Agreement secretariat;
- contribute to greater regulatory certainty as well as contribute to greater investor certainty and help take full advantage of opportunities for economic development, investment stimulation, job creation and social cohesion.
The governance mechanism:
- is based on : (i) long-term strategies, (ii) integrated national energy and climate plans covering ten-year periods starting from 2021 to 2030, (iii) corresponding integrated national energy and climate progress reports by the Member States and (iv) integrated monitoring arrangements by the Commission;
- ensures effective opportunities for the public to participate in the preparation of those national plans and those long-term strategies;
- comprises a structured, transparent, iterative process between the Commission and Member States for the purpose of the finalisation of the integrated national energy and climate plans and their subsequent implementation, including with regard to regional cooperation, and corresponding Commission action;
applies to the five dimensions of the Energy Union, which are closely related and mutually reinforcing: (a) energy security; (b) internal energy market; (c) energy efficiency; (d) decarbonisation; and (e) research, innovation and competitiveness.
The adopted Regulation recalls the following:
- a recast of Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council has introduced a new, binding, renewable energy target for the Union for 2030 of at least 32 %, including a provision for a review with a view to increasing the Union-level target by 2023;
- amendments to Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council have set the Union-level target for improvements in energy efficiency in 2030 to at least 32.5 %, including a provision for a review with a view to increasing the Union-level targets;
- the binding target of at least a 40 % domestic reduction in economy-wide GHG emissions by 2030 compared to 1990 was formally approved as the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution of the Union and its Member States to the Paris Agreement at the Environment Council meeting on 6 March 2015;
- the Paris Agreement was ratified by the Union on 5 October 2016 and entered into force on 4 November 2016. It has increased the overall level of ambition for climate change mitigation and sets a long-term goal to keep the global average temperature increase well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and to continue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 24.12.2018. Certain provisions apply from 1.1.2021.