The European Commission has adopted the EU’s new circular economy action plan, a major part of the European Green deal. The action plan aims to make the EU economy produce more durable, longerlasting, repairable consumer products, and maximise the use of recycled material.

Ten years ago Brussels had some of the most energy inefficient building stock in Europe — now it boasts a groundbreaking policy that means all new buildings in the region must be passive. How did the city do it? 

There is a great urgency, as Europe moves closer to the 2020 energy efficiency targets, to develop a skilled workforce that can work together to deliver low-energy projects. One EU initiative, Build Up Skills, has been designed to “stimulate the training of craftspeople and other on-site workers in the building sector on the topics of energy efficiency and renewable energy.”

The Equinox House house near Kavarna, Bulgaria is a passive building that "delicately interacts with natural phenomena on all levels from embracing local views to tracing universal solar motions," according to its designers, Ignatov Architects.

Environmental groups have criticised the EU's new Energy Efficiency Directive for failing to mandate member states to make big energy savings over the next decade.

According to the European Commission, the plan will deliver 20% energy savings across the union by 2020. However, Friends of the Earth said the directive would "not make savings to the extent promised, or on the scale needed to fight climate change".

Energy minister Eamon Ryan has said that formal preparations for a European electricity supergrid have begun.
 
In Brussels today, energy ministers from ten European countries signed an agreement on the North Seas Countries Offshore Grid Initiative, which will aim to develop a supergrid in northern Europe, increase the amount of renewable energy produced in the Europe's northern seas and facilitate large scale offshore wind projects.

Energy Minister Eamon Ryan today announced new funding for renewable energy companies in Ireland.
 
The funding is part of a Europe-wide programme that will be managed jointly by the European Commission, European Investment Bank and EU member states. It will assist eight carbon capture and storage and 34 renewable energy projects in the EU.