Aligning policy monitoring and evaluation tools with long-term strategies for decarbonisation

Context

An important element of the Energy Union is the improvement of monitoring tools to better track the progress on its key targets and objectives and to identify implementation gaps. Progress across a range of key indicators is now evaluated each year and summarised in the Annual State of the Energy Union Report. It is expected that this process will become increasingly relevant to guiding EU policies and engagement with Member States on future revisions to their National Climate and Energy Plans. At the national level, several member states are also looking to reform their monitoring frameworks for energy and climate policy.

However, the goals of climate and energy policy are shifting significantly. For example, in the wake of the Paris Agreement, there is a renewed focus on raising long-term ambition beyond previous targets, e.g. to aim for GHG neutrality by mid-century. The EU, through the Energy Union Governance Regulation and its up-coming Mid-Century GHG Reduction Strategy, is also placing an increasing importance of long-term strategies as a tool for guiding and evaluating the adequacy of policy.

Objective 

The aim of this workshop is to try to bring these two processes into dialogue (improvement of monitoring tools and raising long-term ambition). After all, monitoring tools will need to reflect the sectoral transformations that are necessary to implement the long-term ambition, while the level of long-term ambition has strong implications on what transformations are needed.