Energy Efficiency Directive (EED)

The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED)¹ establishes the EU’s overarching framework for achieving energy savings across the European Union. It sets binding and indicative requirements covering energy savings, public sector energy performance, and energy efficiency governance, thereby providing a common structure for domestic energy efficiency policies and measures.

The Directive was first adopted in 2012 and has since been revised twice – in 2018 and again in 2023, as part of the Fit for 55 package. The most recent revision significantly strengthens the role of energy efficiency in meeting the EU’s climate and energy objectives.

Energy efficiency is a cornerstone of the EU’s climate policy. By reducing overall energy consumption, it directly contributes to the EU’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets, while also enhancing energy security, affordability, and resilience. Under the EED, EU Member States are required to apply the Energy Efficiency First principle, ensuring that energy efficiency considerations are systematically integrated into policy-making and major investment decisions across both energy and non-energy sectors.

The European Commission monitors Member States’ progress towards common energy efficiency targets using official statistics² provided by Eurostat. This ensures consistency, transparency, and data comparability across the EU.

In addition, to support evidence-based policymaking, the Commission has commissioned analytical studies assessing the impact of energy efficiency policies and measures on energy consumption. These assessments help policymakers evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures, identify best practices, and inform future revisions of the EU energy efficiency framework.

Energy Efficiency First principle

Energy Efficiency First³ is a cross-cutting guiding principle of EU energy and climate policy, designed to complement objectives related to sustainability, climate neutrality, and green growth. Anchored in EU legislation, most notably the Governance Regulation (EU) 2018/1999⁴ and the Energy Efficiency Directive⁵, it provides a strong legal basis for systematically prioritising energy efficiency in policymaking and investment decisions.

While fully respecting security of supply and market integration, the Energy Efficiency First principle requires that decision-makers ensure that:

• only the energy that is genuinely needed is produced,
• investments in stranded assets are avoided, and
• energy demand is reduced and managed in the most cost-effective way.

The principle goes beyond reducing fossil fuel use and highlights the importance of avoiding unnecessary energy production altogether. As a result, both public and private actors are encouraged to prioritise energy efficiency investments as a first step, before turning to more complex or capital-intensive solutions in the energy transition.