Energy conservation: only the Federal Government has not finished its homework yet

The European Commission is still waiting for the Federal Government to determine its contribution to the energy savings targets. It is the only government in the country that has not yet finished its homework. The Flemish Government will contribute almost 50% of this country’s total target by 2030. Flemish Minister of Energy Zuhal Demir is calling on the Federal Government not to delay doing its homework. “Unless my colleagues get to work, we’ll keep treading water, so to speak. In the meantime, Flanders is continuing to roll out its measures.”

The European Commission is imposing an obligation on the Member States to achieve cumulative savings on the final energy consumption. For Belgium, this binding target for the period 2021-2030 is 185.70 TWh of final energy (to be achieved by the end of 2030). The Member States must inform the Commission as to how they intend to achieve this. The Flemish, Walloon and Brussels governments have already done their homework. However, the European Commission is still waiting for the Federal Government, which has not yet reported any energy savings. This also means that the Commission has not had to reach an opinion yet: are the efforts of our country sufficient or not?

Flanders accounts for almost 50%

Wallonia, Brussels and Flanders have already reported their contributions to the European Commission. The 53.34 TWh policy of the Walloon Region accounts for about 30%. The Brussels-Capital Region is limiting its contribution to just under 5% at 8.74 TWh. Flanders will achieve most of the energy savings by 2030. At 87.89 TWh, Flanders accounts for just under 50% of the total savings. This even sets the bar slightly higher than envisaged in the Flemish Energy and Climate Plan (84.062 TWh).

Will “the greenest federal government ever” set the bar higher or lower than Flanders?

However, we are still waiting for a commitment and measures from the Federal Government. It has now become clear that the contributions from the various regions and the Federal Government (which has not yet submitted anything) are not yet sufficient to achieve the target imposed for Belgian. If the Federal Government merely wishes to close the remaining “gap”, it must commit to energy savings of 35.37 TWh. This would account for 19% of the total target, over 2.5 times less than Flanders. It is expected that “the greenest government ever” wants to raise the bar higher than Flanders, although no measures have been taken.

Not just words, but actions as well

Zuhal Demir points out that the constant plea in words to achieve ambitious energy targets should also be followed by actions. A frustration also raised earlier by the Climate Case, in which a decision is expected next month. “Commitments and words must be followed by actions. Reducing energy consumption is also an important part of the answer to the challenges we face. Only when the Federal Government’s contribution is known can the European Commission judge whether the Belgian target is feasible. If this turns out not to be the case, we will have to look at which entity within Belgium can submit additional measures. It is clear that Flanders already accounts for the lion’s share. So all we can do is wait until the Federal Government has finished its homework,” Zuhal Demir concludes.