Our mission

Putting energy efficiency and savings at the centre of Europe’s energy and economic policy

The Coalition for Energy Savings has been created to make energy efficiency and savings the first consideration of energy policies in Europe, as the driving force behind a more prosperous, sustainable and competitive Europe.
We bring together stakeholders with an interest in energy efficiency including from business, civil society, professional associations and local authorities, to become:

• The voice of energy efficiency in Europe: We are a joint advocacy platform to promote and mainstream energy efficiency at the European level, and ensure it is a political priority.
• A centre of expertise on energy efficiency: We are a one-stop shop for stakeholders and policy makers looking for information, advice and feedback on energy efficiency policy.
• A forum to exchange intelligence on energy efficiency: We are the place to share intelligence on latest political and policy developments on energy efficiency and keep up to date with the energy efficiency debate.

Through our members, we represent over 400 associations, 150 companies, 15 million citizens, 1.5 million employees, and 1,000 cities and towns in 30 countries across Europe.
Energy savings are achieved by increasing energy efficiency, in the broadest sense. This means making better use of energy – better organising and modernising our ageing and inefficient buildings, energy and transport systems and industrial processes with technologies, materials, financing instruments and behavioural change. Doing this with sufficient ambition to realise the cost-effective saving potentials will help us to:

• Stay within the earth’s resource and climate boundaries. Energy efficiency is the cheapest and most effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions - half of what is needed to meet the EU’s long-term climate commitment.
• Reduce the EU’s energy trade deficit and support sustainable economic growth. Europe spent over 400 billion Euros in 2011 on energy imports. What is saved there can be invested at home instead.
• Create new and local jobs. Millions of additional builders, installers, urban and energy system planners and industrial workers will be needed.
• Improve environmental quality and living conditions while cutting energy bills. By 2020 we could save over €200 billion net per year. For every Euro saved through reduced energy use, Member States, businesses and consumers save an additional Euro as energy efficiency measures drive down energy prices.

We want political leadership to provide vision and direction to decouple energy consumption from growth. This means setting energy savings targets for 2030 and 2050 and putting in place a strong regulatory framework at all levels, EU, national and regional to generate an environment of trust and a stable investment climate, so that we overcome the obstacles that stand in the way of energy efficiency. It is our conviction that energy efficiency and savings policies must be an incentive for sustainable growth in the EU.

Current EU energy efficiency laws and policies will help accelerate energy efficiency throughout Europe, but fall short of securing the EU’s energy saving target for 2020. An ambitious implementation as well as further actions needed to bridge this gap, including:

• Binding national energy saving targets to incentivise Member States to go beyond minimum EU requirements;
• National Building Renovation Roadmaps to set long-term strategies for reducing energy use in the building stock and increasing the level of investments;
• Efficiency obligations for energy suppliers, financial facilities and technical support to kick start the market for energy efficiency services; and
• Maximum deployment of highly-efficient cogeneration as part of the continuous improvement of transformation efficiencies.