Opening the conference IENE’s chairmanMr. John Chadjivassiliades stressed the key role that energy efficiency now plays in energy strategy at national, EU and global level. “In view of the new high targets set by the EU for a 30% improvement in energy efficiency by EE28 by 2030, coupled with a 40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions at the same time, but also taking into consideration the latest important developments following consultations with the European institutions in reviewing the relevant European Directive, today’s event is highly relevant. By convening this conference IENE is seeking to map out the latest developments, to assess the upcoming changes from an institutional, technical and investment angle but also propose needed interventions”, said IENE’s Chairman.
The Secretary General of Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, Mr. Michalis Verroiopoulos, also speaking at the start of the conference stressed the fact that energy efficiency now forms an integral part of Greece’s long termenergy policy, currently being formulated with specific goals fully compatible with EU targets. According to Mr. Verroiopoulos it is estimated that by 2030 more than 300,000 buildings in Greece will have been upgraded and rehabilitated through the application of energy efficiency measures. Hence, there is growing interest from banks which are already participating in EU funded programmes. In this context senior executives from the National Bank of Greece and from Piraeus Bank contributed with presentations at IENE’s conference outlining the variety of financing methods currently available but also discussing new financing mechanisms which are likely to be introduced shortly in order to handle increased interest for energy related renovations in buildings and businesses.
Τhe global view on the role of energy efficiency in the energy transition was presented by Ms. Jessica Glicker, senior analyst, at the IEA in Paris. As Ms. Glicker noted “energy efficiency reduced global energy use by 12% in 2016 which is an amount equivalent to the energy use of the European Union.
“A contributing factor for such a spectacular improvement is to be found in the behavior of household energy consumers. Efficiency improvements made since 2000 reduced energy bills in 2016. German consumers alone, saved nearly USD 50 billion on their annual home and travel energy costs.”
IENE is now preparing a special microsite, the coordinates of which will soon be announced, where all conference presentations and interventions will be uploaded.
The conference was financially supported by the National Bank of Greece (NBG) and ENSCO, a leading SEE energy trading firm while the financial daily “Naftemporiki” and Greece’s leading energy portal, “energia.gr”, were the main media partners.