“revised Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) aims to accelerate the pace of energy efficiency improvement in the EU towards 2030 • To realise this, the EED has set the Netherlands an energy saving target of a maximum of 1,609 petajoules of final energy consumption in 2030, which is a decrease of 7% of 2023 levels • Final energy consumption in the Netherlands has decreased by an average of 2.2% per year in the post-Paris period (2017-2023) • Despite these efficiency improvements and the seemingly positive trend towards 2030, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) predicts that the goal will not be met • According to PBL, energy demand will increase sharply in 2025 due to the recovery in production in industry and greenhouse horticulture, but also due to increased energy demand from households • After 2025, stated and proposed policy measures will have mixed impact on energy consumption, but on balance, a downward trend is projected towards 2035 • Based on PBL estimates, the EED target for 2030 will not be reached in the Netherlands until 2038.”
Morten W. Langer
