Anita Boros, Gyula Koi (eds): Sustainability and Law
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5. Legislation on Sustainability in the European Union law (László Vértesy)
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5.3. Secondary law
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5.3.2.Energy

5.3.2.Energy

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The Renewable Energy Directive (EU 2018/2001, RED II),1 establishes a common binding targeting system to promote energy from renewable sources across the different sectors; in particular, (i) sets share in the energy mix in 2030; (ii) regulates self-consumption for the first time; and (iii) establishes a common set of rules for the use of renewables in electricity, heating and cooling, and transport in the EU. The goal is to achieve a minimum of 42.5% by 2030 for the share of renewables in the EU’s overall energy consumption, with an additional 2.5% indicative top-up for achieving a target of 45%; with its objective of reducing net greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels.2 The directive lays out rules for the usage of renewable energy across all sectors, including electricity, heating and cooling,3 as well as transport. It also, critically, establishes sustainability criteria for bioenergy and encourages integration of renewable energy into the electricity market. While it is quite recent and there has not been a large amount of direct judicial scrutiny on the recast directive, an important example is Peter Sabo and Others v European Parliament and Council (T-141/19).4 In this case, Peter Sabo (Slovakia) and other applicants (from Estonia, Ireland, France), comprising environmental non-governmental organisations and individuals, claimed that including forest biomass as a renewable energy source into the Directive was contrary to EU commitments to the environment and jeopardised biodiversity and climate targets. While the General Court did dismiss the action on admissibility (on the basis of standing), the litigation usefully highlighted the environmental concerns about the integrity of certain renewable Energy sources. This case also illustrated the challenges faced by EU institutions in crafting fulfilling energy policy under complex scientific and legal benchmarks.

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The Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU) provides a common framework of measures in order to further the promotion of energy efficiency under EU law.5 First adopted in 2012,6 the directive was updated in 2018 and 2023 (Energy efficiency from 2025), setting rules and obligations for achieving the EU’s ambitious energy efficiency targets.7 Overall EU energy consumption by 2030 should not exceed 992.5 million tonnes of oil equivalent for primary energy and 763 million tonnes of oil equivalent for final energy. The directive has binding measures that help the EU reach its 20% energy efficiency target by 2020 and 32.5% by 2030 (Directive EU 2023/1791), which is a useful vehicle to further enhancements on energy efficiency going into the future. The directive includes obligations for energy audits, energy-efficient public procurement and energy efficiency obligation schemes. The CJEU made reference to the directive in Case C-347/19, Commission v Spain,8 which dealt with Spain’s failure to transpose Article 9(3). This regulation requires Member States to ensure that in newly-built or existing multi-apartment buildings, individual meters are installed to measure heating, cooling and hot water consumption. The court found that Spain failed to fulfil, its obligations and reiterated the importance of the directive being aimed at not only reducing aggregate demand for energy, but also increasing awareness in relation to energy consumption, thereby empowering consumers by increasing transparency. The court noted that individual metering is a fundamental tool for behaviour change, cost reduction and energy efficiency. The ruling also confirmed that non-compliance in terms of procedure and formality - the delay in transposing the requirements - can undermine the environmental and economic objectives of the directive.
 
1

Directive (EU) 2018/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2018 on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources (recast) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2018/2001/oj/eng

Directive (EU) 2023/2413 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 amending Directive (EU) 2018/2001, Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 and Directive 98/70/EC as regards the promotion of energy from renewable sources, and repealing Council Directive (EU) 2015/652 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2023/2413/oj/eng

2

Krug, M., Di Nucci, M. R., Caldera, M., & De Luca, E. (2022). Mainstreaming community energy: is the renewable energy directive a driver for renewable energy communities in Germany and Italy? Sustainability, 14(12), 7181.

Long, A., Bose, A., O'Shea, R., Monaghan, R., & Murphy, J. D. (2021). Implications of European Union recast Renewable Energy Directive sustainability criteria for renewable heat and transport: Case study of willow biomethane in Ireland. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 150, 111461.

3 Holzleitner, M., Moser, S., & Puschnigg, S. (2020). Evaluation of the impact of the new Renewable Energy Directive 2018/2001 on third-party access to district heating networks to enforce the feed-in of industrial waste heat. Utilities Policy, 66, 101088.
4 Case T-141/19 Peter Sabo and Others v European Parliament and Council of the European Union. Order of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 6 May 2020
5

Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2012/27/oj/eng

Directive (EU) 2023/1791 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 September 2023 on energy efficiency and amending Regulation (EU) 2023/955 (recast) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=OJ%3AJOL_2023_231_R_0001&qid=1695186598766

6

Grondys, K., Androniceanu, A., & Dacko-Pikiewicz, Z. (2020). Energy management in the operation of enterprises in the light of the applicable provisions of the energy efficiency directive (2012/27/EU). Energies, 13(17), 4338.

Economidou, M., Todeschi, V., Bertoldi, P., D'Agostino, D., Zangheri, P., & Castellazzi, L. (2020). Review of 50 years of EU energy efficiency policies for buildings. Energy and buildings, 225, 110322.

7

Energy Efficiency Directive https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/energy-efficiency/energy-efficiency-targets-directive-and-rules/energy-efficiency-directive_en

Koronen, C., Åhman, M., & Nilsson, L. J. (2020). Data centres in future European energy systems—energy efficiency, integration and policy. Energy efficiency, 13(1), 129-144.

8 Case C-347/19 European Commission v Kingdom of Spain. Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 10 December 2020
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