With the Green Deal and its massive wave of new legislation behind us, it’s time to focus on its implementation and the actual pathway Europe is going to take to reach the targets that have been set. For EuropeOn, it makes no doubt that electrification is the way forward.

Electrification relies on tried-and-tested technologies and uses an energy carrier that has been around for over a century. Thanks to the falling price of renewables such as solar or wind, electrification can easily lower consumers’s energy bills, make them actors of a flexible energy system, all the while shielding them from external price shocks as we experienced during the energy crisis. It is our home-grown solution to phase out fossil fuels, be energy-independent and reduce our emissions in time.

This is why EuropeOn has been campaigning for the Commission to release an Electrification Action Plan since before the elections. This was a critical ask for electrical contractors, who are at the frontlines of electrification. With the targets that have been set under the Green Deal, there is little chance that other solutions will be deployed where electrification is feasible.

However, it is key for electrical contractors to have clear visibility and predictability on the technological choices that will impact the demand for their work. Indeed, with less than 1% unemployment in our sector, electrical contractors are already short staffed for the current demand. As an increase in the need for electrical installations was foreseen as a result of the Green Deal, these companies will need to recruit more personnel and seek to up-skill their current workforce. Similarly, national and local governments also need to align their employment and education strategies on the labour market of the (near) future.

This is where the Electrification Action Plan comes in. It has the potential to remove any doubt on how much and what will be electrified. Electrical contractors can have more confidence that the investments they make in their workforce today will pay off in the future and that they will have the necessary support from governments to steer more youth towards technical education and make up-skilling opportunities easily available.

In combination with the European Affordable Housing Plan and the Clean Industrial Deal, the next Commission has all the cards to make this a winning hand for our citizens, our consumers and for the competitiveness of our industries.

On 17 September, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wrote to all 26 Commissioners-designate with the priorities she would assign to each of them. The mission letter to Dan Jorgensen, the Danish candidate for the Energy & Housing portfolio, included the publication of an Electrification Action Plan. The announcement obviously received a warm welcome from EuropeOn and our sector. But now, we must ensure that it is assertive and comprehensive enough to have the effect described above. Now that the release of such a Plan has been announced, we are turning our attention to its content.

Fortunately, the Electrification Alliance worked on the specific measures that should make up this plan during the co-presidency of EuropeOn and AVERE. Our common proposal for a 31-point Electrification Action Plan has been released this September and can be accessed here.

It addresses the full value chain that enables electrification, from grids to power generation to specific sectors such as industry or buildings as well as labour and skills shortages.

The next step will be to hear the thoughts of Dan Jorgensen, the Commissioner-designate for Energy and Housing, on this Plan and how he intends to shape it during his confirmation hearing in the European Parliament. These hearings provide an opportunity for MEPs to grill the would-be Commissioners on their plans if and when they take office. It will be critical for MEPs to ensure that this Electrification Action Plan is up to the task and not just a box-ticking exercise.

Read more on EuropeOn’s vision for the next legislature in our Manifesto: https://europe-on.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/2024-Manifesto.pdf

Read the Electrification Alliance’s publication on the Electrification Action Plan: https://electrification-alliance.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/EA_RECS-FOR-AN-EAP_2024.pdf