Équilibre des Energies publishes a white paper “Fit for 55… and after?” : 35 lines of action for the energy transition in Europe

Although the past five years have allowed significant progress on the legislative and regulatory levels, the EU's climate strategy is still far from complete and must now pass an essential milestone: that of implementation.

For Brice Lalonde, former Minister of the Environment and president of Equilibre des Energies: “As remarkable as the result achieved today is, it is only the first step in Europe's obstacle course towards carbon neutrality. Now comes the time for implementation, which will rely largely on economic players. The responsibility of the next Parliament and the new Commission will be to ensure that the conditions are in place to enable them to accomplish this task. »

In this context and in view of the recent crises from which lessons must be learned, Équilibre des Énergies is publishing its White Paper “Fit for 55… and after?”.

Équilibre des Énergies presents 35 lines of action for the energy transition (summarized in the appendix), resulting from consultation with its members, industrialists in the energy, building, mobility and industry sectors.

Summary of the main lines of action recommended by Équilibre des Énergies

Download the entire White Book and synthesis.

General guidance

• Europe must reaffirm and consolidate, through concrete measures to implement the Fit for 55 package, the primacy of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. “Emissions Reduction First” must be the principle serving as a guiding principle for the new mandate.
• Article 194, relating to energy policy in the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), must be amended in order to include the priority to be given to the fight against climate change and to enshrine the principle of neutrality in the development of energy sectors with very low carbon content.
• Europe must consider that ensuring security of supply is an essential mission, define energy independence objectives and ensure that they are respected.
• Following on from the Net Zero Industry Act initiative, Europe must make industrial sovereignty a greater priority. It must put in place new regulatory and financial means, simpler and more effective, to achieve this.
• Adaptation to climate change is taking on increasing urgency and must be the subject of a complete update leading to the development of a Fit for +4°C adaptation plan.
• The next mandate will have to establish a social climate plan with a plan for redistributing the sums collected towards the most vulnerable people and the companies whose decarbonization is the most difficult.

Energy sector

• Europe must allow low-carbon electricity production sectors, whether of renewable or nuclear origin, to develop without regulatory or financial discrimination.
• The recognition of electricity as the main vector of decarbonization must be recognized and the development of its uses must be planned and encouraged.
• An action plan for electricity networks must be adopted, including the promotion and development of flexibility and storage solutions.
• Europe must quickly finalize the ongoing work on the evolution of the wholesale electricity market, by establishing the provisions which will ensure the financing of the necessary infrastructure, stabilize prices and give visibility to the parties stakeholders, while leaving Member States ample room for maneuver in the organization of retail markets.
• Alongside electricity, new energy vectors will become increasingly important. The Commission will have to ensure the development of industrial sectors associated with new energy vectors and the adequacy between resources and the needs to be satisfied. Particular attention should be paid to:
  • hydrogen: its resources and scope of application;
  • prioritizing the uses of biomass;
  • the inventory of areas of relevance for renewable heat.
• The carbon ecosystem will need to be subject to a global reassessment.

Building sector

• The use of financial resources must be optimized by encouraging the rapid migration of heating systems to low-carbon solutions accompanied by effective regulation and management systems, without systematizing deep renovations which are often very expensive.
• The exit from fossil solutions must be planned as was done in the automobile sector.
• The energy and environmental performance of buildings must be established based on final energy consumption and no longer on primary energy, the calculation of which favors fossil fuels, by including CO2 emissions.
• The communication announced on heat pumps should lead to an action plan.
• The fight against energy poverty must remain a priority.

Transport sector

• In the light road mobility sector, priority must remain on the development of electric mobility:
  • deployment of charging infrastructure along express routes, in particular on corridors used during seasonal travel;
  • equipment in charging infrastructure for collective buildings for residential use;
  • equipping white zones and implementing solutions for users who cannot recharge at home;
  • improvement of the quality of the charging service and development of intelligent and bidirectional charging systems.
• Development of a heavy transport decarbonization plan:
  • development of very high-power charging stations along major roads;
  • large-scale experimentation of electric road solutions.
• In the air transport sector, priority is given to the concrete implementation of the ReFuelEU regulation:
  • development of the master plan for the development of the SAF ecosystem in Europe and in each Member State;
  • support for the emergence of new projects and new techniques using low-carbon inputs.

Industry sector

• Develop NZIA towards a system comprising direct financial incentives (development of the STEP (Strategic Technologies for Europe Platform) project, simplification of the Innovation Fund).
• Ensure the restoration of the Union's trade balance:
  • define the markets that the Union wishes to leave open and those it wishes to protect;
  • set up a European preference system in sectors deemed sensitive.