Latest indications from EU officials suggest that the EU's long-awaited Energy Efficiency Action Plan will not be published before February at the earliest.
A Commission spokesperson said that Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger, whose services are working on the draft, wants to have a paper with substance rather than rush it through.
A leaked Commission paper presenting "preliminary ideas" for the next action plan acknowledges that the EU will not reach its target of reducing energy consumption by 20% by 2020 in light of the latest projections.
"Europe only made half of the way," it says.
The EU executive calculates that meeting the target could inject €78 billion annually into the EU economy through lower energy bills while cutting CO2 emissions by 560 million tonnes.
The two-page document, seen by EurActiv, sets the scene for the coming strategy in five key areas: buildings, transport, industry, the energy sector and the public sector.
However, the revised action plan would "depart from the technical approach of proposing a long listing of individual measures" that characterised its 2006 predecessor, the Commission says. Instead, it would seek to give "high political prominence to energy efficiency".
In the spirit of proposing "policy concepts", the preliminary paper is short on suggestions for concrete legislation.
In the buildings sector, the draft picks up on the idea of setting mandatory renovation rates for buildings to improve efficiency but dismisses it on the grounds that neither member states nor the EU executive can force occupants to renovate.
Instead, it identifies the main barriers to upgrading existing buildings as high upfront costs and the missing skills of building professionals.
"The answers are financial support and targeted professional training," the paper says.
Other concrete suggestions include white certificates to oblige energy companies help their customers save energy and the possibility of extending the Eco-Design Directive to include minimum efficiency requirements at system level.
On transport, the Commission simply states that it is closely following the development of the White Paper on Transport, which is currently being prepared by its transport department.
It also floats the idea of introducing energy-efficiency criteria into public procurement, so that public authorities can set an example.
Legally binding target?
Taking a stand on the long-standing debate on whether to make the EU's 20% efficiency goal legally binding, the paper briefly mentions that national energy-saving targets are "among the options which will be investigated as well".
The draft argues that it is necessary to carefully investigate what is required to achieve energy savings and whether national targets might be a solution. A single figure would not be comprehensive enough but agreement will have to be found on "a set of objectives and related indicators that are best suited to mirror each member state's situation," it claims.
Many MEPs have been lobbying for a binding energy-efficiency target. A draft own-initiative report by the European Parliament's industry committee scheduled for vote on 9 November urges the Commission to propose a binding target based on absolute reductions in energy consumption.
An opinion drafted by MEP Peter Liese (Germany; European People's Party) in the environment committee went even further, urging the Commission to propose legislation similar to the renewables directive, introducing a binding 25% target for reducing energy consumption.
"Europe needs a mandatory target for energy efficiency like it has for renewables and emissions reductions. Reducing energy use by 20% by 2020 would create hundreds of thousands of jobs and slash emissions in the EU's fossil fuel dominated energy system," said Brook Riley from Friends of the Earth Europe.
"A mandatory target is the first step to the serious policies we need."
