European Union's Policy Initiatives to Become the World's Most Energy Efficient Economy

As part of Energy Efficiency Global 2013 (EE Global 2013), a leading global forum on energy efficiency, Ecologic Institute Fellow, Dominic Marcellino, spoke about the European Union's policy initiatives to become the world’s most energy efficient economy.

EE Global 2013, the annual energy efficiency forum hosted by the Alliance to Save Energy and its partners, was held in Washington, DC on 20-21 May 2013. The two-day forum featured a variety of discussions of issues related to promoting energy efficiency and using policy (and other mechanisms) to do so. An invitation-only event, the participants were corporate executives, senior government officials, industry experts, and other leading advocates of and thinkers on energy efficiency.

Ecologic Institute was invited to provide a European perspective at one of the intensive learning sessions. The panel's title was "How do you get to be the most energy efficient economy in the world?" and was moderated by Barbara Finamore, Senior Attorney and Asia Director of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Dominic Marcellino, Fellow at Ecologic Institute US, described the current state of EU and Members States policies and measures promoting energy efficiency, giving insight into future dynamics and the extent to which Europe’s energy efficiency policy is integrated with other policy objectives (like economic competitiveness, energy security, and climate change mitigation). Dominic was joined on the panel by Dr. Gabrielle Kuiper (Senior Adviser, Climate Change, Energy and Environment, Office of the Australian Prime Minister), Dr. Nawal al-Hosany (Director of Sustainability, Masdar City United Arab Emirates), and Odon de Buen (Director General, National Commission for the Efficient Use of Energy), who provided perspectives on energy efficient economies from the Australian, UAE, and Mexican/South American perspectives respectively.