The Gapometer

Measures and targets proposed in the EED could close the gap to Europe's 20% target

All recent estimates show that at the current rate, the EU is expected to meet not even half of its 20% by 2020.

The EU's energy saving target for 2020, agreed in 2007 by the Heads of State and Government and later reconfirmed several times by the Commission, is defined as a total energy consumption 20% below the projections for 2020. This means that the EU would need to save 368 Mtoe by 2020; current efforts are expected to deliver only half of that target: the gap is around 190 Mtoe.

In 2011, the Commission adopted its proposal for an Energy Efficiency Directive with the ambition of closing that energy savings gap and delivering the full 190 Mtoe missing to reach the 20% target. The Impact Assessment accompanying the Directive outlined a variety of scenarios and options and provided figures for the savings that would result from choosing one or the other option.

The Gapometer is a visualisation tool to assess the impact of various options and estimate how far different measures in the Energy Efficiency Directive are expected to close the gap. The estimates are based on the Commission’s Impact Assessment, own calculations and expected use of regulatory flexibilities and exemptions.