The European Union provides all EU citizens and organisations with the possibility to share their thoughts and ideas on legislative proposals and programmes the EU is developing. To ensure the voices of citizens are heard, REScoop.eu has provided inputs to the following consultations over the last few weeks:

European Union Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism

To advance the aims of the European Green Deal, the EU Commission has recently proposed Regulation on the Union Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism, a tool for supporting renewable energy project across the EU. While the recast Renewable Energy Direction (RED II) of the Clean Energy Package acknowledges Renewable Energy Communities (RECs), their barriers to market entry and the need for Member State level support, there is currently no mention of the issue under the new regulation relating to the Mechanism.

The Commission’s Green Deal has committed to supporting citizen investment and ownership, therefore we call on the EU to support RECs under the Union Renewable Energy Financing Mechanism to build a socially fair and inclusive energy transition and ensure future resilience, contributing towards the EU’s post-COVID19 recovery.

Our recommendations:

  • Acknowledge the importance of RECs
  • Integrate the principle of ensuring diversity of market actors, and local public acceptance into the Mechanism
  • Add a requirement that the specificities of RECs must be taken into account in the implementation of the Regulation, in order to allow them to compete for support on a level playing field with other market actors
  • Sites or volume capacity for RECs should be included in the list of information provided by host Member States in their expression of interest
  • The regulation should provide a basis for delivering administrative support to RECs that want to access the Mechanism.

Read our full Financing Mechanism Response

Smart Sector Integration Roadmap

The European Green Deal aims to make Europe the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The Commission has recognised the need to integrate sectors of the energy system to exploit synergies, highlighting current barriers to allowing industry and citizens embracing cleaner energy alternatives.

To support this endeavour, we highlighted the work of cooperatives in the fields of heating and cooling, electric transport, building renovation, and digitalisation in our response to the consultation, linking to best practices.

Our recommendations:

  • Acknowledge the role of energy communities in a socially fair and citizen-centered approach to smart integration
  • Proper economic incentives for investment in renewable heating and storage
  • Ensure markets properly value distributed energy resources provided by energy communities to the system

Read our full Smart Sector Integration Response

EU Renovation Wave Roadmap

We welcome the European Commission’s Renovation Wave for Public and Private Buildings, which aims to increase the rate and quality of renovation of existing building as a method of decarbonisation.

Building on from our work with the European Climate Foundation, the Coalition for Energy Savings, and Stefan Scheuer Consulting in the citizen-led renovation report, our consultation response shows examples of how energy communities can play a part in energy efficiency.

Our recommendations:

  • Acknowledge energy communities as an active player in the renovation wave
  • Link simplified administrative procedures for renewables production with renovations
  • Assess and identify relevant financial and informational tools for collective citizen-led renovation projects
  • Link energy communities to existing and future legislation on energy efficiency and building performance

Read our full Renovation Wave Roadmap response