EU negotiators will hope that this week is the breakthrough everyone has been waiting for in two crucial energy files on renewable energy and energy efficiency.

Miguel Arias Cañete, the EU’s climate action and energy Commissioner, has come out publicly in favor of raising the level of ambition on energy efficiency. The “rapid rate of change” in technology “means that we can now set an even higher level of ambition than the 30% figure we used when we drafted the original proposals in 2016,” he wrote in an opinion article published on 14 May, writes Euractiv.com.

Of course, the final decision will rest with the Parliament and Council, he said. “The former has proposed a 35% binding EU target, while the latter a 30% target. Thus we can assume that a compromise level will be found within this range,” he wrote on europeanfiles.eu.

Energy efficiency measures are the most cost effective way to support the shift to a low-carbon economy and, in the process, boost investment, growth and employment opportunities in Europe. ”These past 10 years, the EU has already implemented a number of solid measures to improve energy efficiency in all sectors notably through the existing Directives on Energy Efficiency and on the Energy Performance of Buildings, as well as important rules on Ecodesign and Energy labeling.”

These measures have contributed considerably to a reduction in EU energy consumption and helped consumers save energy and money, Cañete wrote.