(Directive 2012/27/EU on Energy efficiency, amending Directives 2009/125/EC and 2010/30/EU and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC)
The directive aims to support the 2020 Climate and Energy Package target of 20% energy efficiency increase by 2020.
"New national measures have to ensure major energy savings for consumers and industry alike. For example:
- energy distributors or retail energy sales companies have to achieve 1.5% energy savings per year through the implementation of energy efficiency measures
- EU countries can opt to achieve the same level of savings through other means such as improving the efficiency of heating systems, installing double glazed windows or insulating roofs
- the public sector in EU countries should purchase energy efficient buildings, products and services
- every year, EU governments will carry out energy efficient renovations on at least 3% of the buildings they own and occupy by floor area
- empowering energy consumers to better manage consumption. This includes easy and free access to data on consumption through individual metering
- national incentives for SMEs to undergo energy audits
- large companies will make audits of their energy consumption to help them identify ways to reduce it
- monitoring efficiency levels in new energy generation capacities" (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?qid=1399375464230&uri=CELEX:32012L0027)
In 2018, as part of the 'Clean energy for all Europeans package', the amending Directive on Energy Efficiency (2018/2002) was agreed to update the policy framework to 2030 and beyond. Its key element is a headline energy efficiency target for 2030 of at least 32.5%. The target, to be achieved collectively across the EU, is set relative to the 2007 modelling projections for 2030.

In absolute terms, this means that EU energy consumption for 2030 should be no more than 1128 Mtoe (million tonnes of equivalent) of primary energy and/or no more than 846 Mtoe of final energy (following the withdrawal of the UK).

The amending directive also includes an extension to the energy savings obligation in end use, introduced in the 2012 directive. Under the amending directive, EU countries will have to achieve new energy savings of 0.8% each year of final energy consumption for the 2021-2030 period, except Cyprus and Malta that will have to achieve 0.24% each year instead.

The directive entered into force in December 2018 and had to be transposed into national law by Member States by 25 June 2020, except for metering and billing provisions which has a different deadline (25 October 2020).