The plenary session of the Energy Efficiency Platform brings together the relevant stakeholders from commerce, civil society, science and academia, the appropriate government ministries and the Länder. The session is held at regular intervals.
The most recent plenary session took place on 18 June 2018. In this first session during the new legislative term, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy outlined the plans for the Federal Government’s energy efficiency strategy, which will include a further development of the National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency. Regarding consultations and stakeholder proposals, the work of the platform is to be continued in the plenary sessions and in thematic working groups. Further to this, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy reported on the status of the ministry’s funding strategy, planning relating to the heating transition (particularly involving the projects “Federal funding for efficient heating networks (Heating networks 4.0)” and “Innovative CHP systems”), the “Germany makes it efficient” campaign (and especially the ministry’s energy efficiency dialogue) and the clean energy package of the European Union. The stakeholders were given opportunity to present their views on all of the issues covered, and these views were also discussed.
At the eighth meeting, which took place on 19 June 2017, stakeholders presented their opinions and positions on the report evaluating the public consultation of the Green Paper on energy efficiency. They also discussed ideas for instruments designed to foster the large-scale improvement of energy efficiency. The rest of the session consisted of presentations and discussions on the current status of selected energy-efficiency topics, such as the EU winter package, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy’s funding strategy, the “Germany makes it efficient” campaign and the status of the work being undertaken by the platforms.
The two meetings held in autumn 2016 and spring 2017 were held as joint plenary sessions with the Platform on Buildings. These sessions focused on the key hypotheses and questions set out in the Green Paper on energy efficiency and also involved presentation of the results of the consultation process on important fields of action and challenges regarding the future direction of energy efficiency policies in the mid- and long-term.
At further plenary sessions, the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy provided regular information about the planning and status of the implementation of the NAPE, other energy efficiency instruments and the work of the working groups of the Energy Efficiency Platform. Discussions centred upon such issues as the NAPE measures, e.g. the STEP up! tendering model, the waste heat programme, the revised programme to fund horizontal technologies, and the Energy Savings Meters pilot programme. These NAPE measures were combined into the funding package entitled “Federal funding for energy efficiency in commerce” on 1 January 2019. The energy saving meters pilot programme was developed further. In addition, the ministry gave regular updates on its public relations campaign called “Deutschland macht’s effizient” (Germany makes it efficient).
The inaugural meeting of the Energy Transition “Energy Efficiency” Platform took place in the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on 10 July 2014. At this first meeting, chaired by Director-General Herdan, the issues of funding assistance, advice, financing and improving the regulatory framework were pinpointed as being the Platform’s four main fields of action, and initial proposals for new measures were pooled and discussed. At the same time, the participants were called on to submit further proposals for measures. Following the inaugural meeting of the Energy Efficiency Platform, the representatives submitted more than a hundred suggestions for action. These were then pooled, assessed and quantified, and fed into the NAPE process. The National Action Plan on Energy Efficiency (NAPE) was adopted by the federal cabinet on 3 December 2014.
Downloadable documents (in German):
9th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 18 June 2018:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF 2 MB) (in German)
8th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 19 June 2017:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF 1,25 MB) (PDF, 1 MB)
7th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 07 February 2017:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 2MB) (in German)
6th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 04 October 2016:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 3MB) (in German)
5th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 24 May 2016:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 339 KB) (in German)
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy on the communication and activation campaign (PDF: 1,6 MB) (in German)
4th session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 18 December 2015:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy and the Platform’s Office (PDF: 408 KB) (in German)
3rd session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 29 January 2015:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 321 KB) (in German)
2nd session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 7 October 2014:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 479,8 KB) (in German)
1st session of the Energy Efficiency Platform, 10 July 2014:
- Presentation by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (PDF: 321,2 KB) (in German)
- Presentations by Dr Eichhammer (PDF: 325 KB) (in German)
- Presentation by Dr Ziesing (PDF: 5 MB) (in German)