The European Commission has passed the most comprehensive revision of the energy statistics regulation in history. The goal is to increase support for the European Green Deal.
This amendment, which will take effect in February, will provide statistics to track a number of policy initiatives aimed at decarbonizing the European economy, including the Energy Union and the Fit for 55 package, as well as the Hydrogen Strategy and the Batteries Initiative. The new data will be available for the first time in 2022.
“Today’s amendment to the energy statistics regulation marks a milestone on the path to a credible and evidence-based transition towards a climate-neutral economy,” said Commissioner for Economy Paolo Gentiloni. We set the pace for energy statistics around the world with this legal act, staying ahead of policy developments and incorporating data needs from the Fit for 55 package and other important policy initiatives, all in line with the Commission’s priorities.”
Eurostat will publish new and more detailed high-quality data on the following topics as a result of this amendment:
New energy carriers, such as hydrogen, will play a key role in difficult-to-decarbonize sectors (such as maritime and air transport). Green hydrogen (produced from renewable energy) will be distinguished from hydrogen produced from oil or gas in these new statistics, which will also include data on how hydrogen is used in our economy. This information will become critical for tracking the progress of the EU Hydrogen Strategy.
Small producers, such as households/firms installing their own solar PV panels on their roofs or agriculture/forestry companies producing their own electricity from biomass or biogas, should be monitored. Decentralized electricity generation is becoming more important, as the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 encourages small consumers to participate actively in the energy market by becoming producers. The Governance of the Energy Union and Climate Change (EU) 2018/1999) also includes reporting requirements for renewable energy generated in buildings.
Large-scale batteries will be required to store electricity and stabilize future smart grids with high renewable energy penetration (as wind or solar production is variable and its output cannot be fine-tuned to meet demand). These figures will aid the EU’s battery initiative.
Additional renewable fuels, such as detailed heat pump characteristics and closer monitoring of solar photovoltaic (PV) production, such as identifying rooftop PV systems, classifying production according to the size of PV system installations, and collecting data on off-grid PV systems, will aid in monitoring some of the commitments included in the Renewable Energy Directive (EU) 2018/2001 and the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EU) 2018/844. The Resilience and Recovery Facility’s agreed-upon Resilience and Recovery Plans invest a significant amount of money in energy efficiency and renewable energy in buildings.
Newly installed and decommissioned electrical capacity to track the EU power sector’s transformation as carbon-intensive power plants (e.g. coal) are phased out and renewable power plants take their place (such as solar PV systems or wind). This transformation is critical to meeting the Fit for 55 package’s goals.
The non-energy use of renewables to replace carbon-intensive materials with new and sustainable bio-based products, such as bio-chemicals, automotive bio-lubricants, and road bio-asphalt. Bio-lubricant, which contains at least 25% bio-based carbon, is used as a hydraulic fluid, tractor transmission oil, industrial and marine gear oil, bicycle chains, and other applications. Bitumen is replaced by lignin, an important component of plants and trees, in bio-asphalt, the fossil component of asphalt. As a result, road construction becomes more environmentally friendly, biogenic carbon can be stored in roads for a long time, and reliance on petroleum is reduced. The bio-asphalt test road in the Netherlands, which was built in 2020, is performing well.
Final energy consumption breakdown (in support of the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2018/2002):
The services sector, which includes education, wholesale and retail trade, lodging, food services, hospital activities, and many others, provides information on energy consumption.
for rail (identifying metro and tram, high-speed and conventional rail, freight transport, and passenger transport) and road transportation activities (heavy-duty vehicles, collective transport, and car and vans).
The energy consumption in data centers, which is rapidly increasing and must be monitored in order to understand the digital economy’s environmental impact. Data centers are an important part of Europe’s digital strategy because they provide the basic infrastructure required to support the digital transformation.
Specific final energy consumption in agriculture and forestry, which is necessary to support the Common Agriculture Policy’s monitoring.
Data on grid losses during gas and electricity transmission and distribution, as a first step toward improving grid efficiency, in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Directive (EU) 2018/2002.
Annual data will be available one month earlier (in October of the following year, rather than November), facilitating the State of the Energy Union reporting process.
Estimated energy balances will be released six months after the end of the year, based on official data from Member States, to aid in the analysis of the EU energy market’s early trends.
The proposal was endorsed by the European Statistical System Committee with a large majority of Member States in favor after intensive negotiations with Member States to ensure that data needs arising from the Fit for 55 package and other policy initiatives in the energy sector were quickly incorporated (representing 95.52 percent of the EU population). This amendment was submitted to the European Parliament and the Council for 3-month scrutiny in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny followed for this amendment. Both co-legislators approved the bill without objection, paving the way for the Commission’s approval today.
Following the European Commission’s formal adoption of the Regulation today, it will be published in the Official Journal on January 31. The Regulation will take effect 20 days after it has been published.
This data’s first reference year is 2022. As a result, EU Member States have already begun to collect data in accordance with this amendment.
