The Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) had again a very busy agenda! The year 2018 has been marked by a number of activities and fascinating projects that EPEE will further develop during the upcoming year. Members will continue to drive forward the work of the trade association and agreed that the HVACR industry has to be more proactive and showcase the benefits it brings to the world and lives of all, not only through heating, but also through cooling and refrigeration.
“At this year’s AGM we took a moment with our members and industry partners to discuss issues close to our sector’s heart, in a dedicated workshop,” explained EPEE Director General Andrea Voigt. “The EU 2050 Decarbonisation Strategy is one of them. Heating, cooling and refrigeration systems have a great potential in contributing to the decarbonisation of the EU energy system. We need to increase efforts to integrate all technologies already available, look at what else can be done, at what role energy storage can play for example.
The European Commission (DG ENERGY) presented its EU long-term strategy for EU greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction at the EPEE AGM workshop, insisting on the importance of modernising and decarbonising the EU economy through further investments, to eventually change behaviours towards energy consumption.The EPEE workshop was also the opportunity for the Coalition for Energy Savings to present their 2050 Vision, highlighting the need for energy efficiency to be placed at the centre of future GHG emissions reduction to ensure that measures decided today can contribute to energy savings tomorrow.EASE, the European Association for Storage of Energy, also expressed its views on the EU pathway to decarbonisation, stressing the importance of electrical storage in future energy legislative frameworks, and the need for decision-makers to be as much technology-neutral as possible and consider all potential storage technologies in the Commission’s strategy.
Andrea Voigt concluded: “Europe’s energy transition was the heart of our discussions. The conclusion of our workshop is clear: it is crucial that we act now to respond effectively to growing global cooling needs, and in a sustainable way. Our association is really keen to support Europe’s decarbonisation and is looking forward to further exchanges on this.
The EPEE AGM workshop also provided participants with an update on the upcoming 2019 EU elections. All presentations from the workshop can be found here.
The AGM renewed the mandate of a few Steering Committee members: amongst others, Jean-Claude Wetzels from Emerson Climate Technologies was elected Vice-Chair of EPEE, and Rainer Grosse-Kracht from Bitzer was re-elected Treasurer of the association. The AGM also elected François Heyndrickx, of the French association AFCE, as the EPEE Associations representative within the Steering Committee.
