The FME workshop "Climate protection through energy efficiency in the EU and Germany" was organised with scientific and organisational support by the Wuppertal Institute and was held in Berlin on 10 December 2009 with close to 100 participants.
Prior to the event, Wuppertal Institute drafted a 20-page briefing report for the client and the speakers for their better preparation. A short version of this report was also prepared and handed out to all workshop participants.
Furthermore, Wuppertal Institute was - in close cooperation with the FME - responsible for the complete scientific concept of the workshop as well as for the practical organisation. This included the drafting of the agenda, the selection and invitation of speakers, the development of the programme flyer in terms of content and design, as well as the invitation and registration of participants.
The objective of the workshop was to discuss, with an expert audience from politics, business and science, the potential contribution of energy efficiency improvement to reaching the German and European climate change mitigation targets and also the options available for the transposition of the Energy Services Directive still pending in Germany.
Good-practice examples from selected EU Member States have shown that large energy savings can be achieved by implementing innovative policy instruments. Moreover, the chances of reaching the EU target of 20 percent primary energy saving compared to the trend by 2020 were discussed against the backdrop of existing energy efficiency potentials and policy instruments.
The presentations and discussions at the workshop have shown that there is still enormous cost-effective energy saving potential in Germany and in the EU, which is not being addressed sufficiently by the existing policy portfolio. The transposition of the Energy Services Directive offers significant opportunities for not leaving this cost-effective climate protection potential untapped.