Focus on Luxembourg: the Energy Union tour

Source: Directorate-General Energy (ENER) i, published on Monday, October 23 2017.

European Commission Vice-President for Energy Union Maroš Šefčovič i today (23 October 2017) visits Luxembourg as part of the Energy Union tour. The Energy Union is the EU i's strategy to ensure that European citizens have access to secure, affordable and clean energy.

The Vice-President will meet Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Economy Etienne Schneider as well as the Minister for the Environment and Climate Carole Dieschbourg. Vice-President Sefcovic will promote the different components of the Energy Union, stressing the need for investment in the clean energy transition, which is at the heart of the Clean Energy for All Europeans proposals. Further he will call on the Luxembourgish authorities to use their forward-looking 'Third Industrial Revolution' Strategy and their new 'Climate Pact' to meet the goals of the Energy Union. The Vice-President will also visit the LuxÉnergie biomass co-generation plant.

Luxembourg's small size and lack of natural resources are amongst the factors that lead to it importing almost all of the energy it consumes: 95.9%, while the average for the EU as a whole is 54.1%. As a result, its electricity grid is very well interconnected with neighbouring Belgium, France and Germany. This means Luxembourg is well-placed to benefit from an integrated electricity market at EU level. Luxembourg has already met its energy efficiency targets for 2020: it has done so through measures including high energy efficiency standards for all new buildings and its 'Climate Pact' initiative, which requires its municipalities to introduce energy management systems.

Luxembourg has a range of measures in place to promote the use of renewable energy, but more efforts will be needed to meet its target for 2020. Given that the number of adequate sites for wind and solar energy installations on its territory may be limited, regional cooperation with other EU countries may help it increase its use of renewable energy.

Ahead of his visit, Vice-President Šefčovič said:

Luxembourg is making good progress towards its 2020 climate and energy targets, as its emissions decreased by 16 percent between 2005 and 2016. I believe that the recently adopted 'Climate Pact' between the state and municipalities is an excellent way forward and even a model for others. Local involvement and leadership is vital for our success in this area.

As part of the 2017 Energy Union Tour, the Vice-President has already visited the Netherlands, Spain, Slovakia, Sweden, Poland, Lithuania, Hungary, Portugal, Estonia, Belgium, Romania, France and Finland. Upcoming dates and more information on the 2017 Energy Union tour are available here.