The European Commission has adopted its first "State of the Energy Union" report. After the adoption of the “Framework Strategy for a Resilient Energy Union with a Forward-Looking Climate Change Policy” in February, this report represents an important milestone in the Energy Union development. It looks at progress over the last nine months and identifies key issues that require specific attention in 2016.

The "State of the Energy Union" report consists of a political Communication and several accompanying documents, among them 28 Member States factsheets which can be found on the Commission's website.

Within this overarching report, a significant place is given to the SET-Plan. It is presented as an important player and an integral component of the "Energy Union" pillar for research, innovation and competitiveness.

The European Commission has also restated the need for an integrated Energy Union Research, Innovation and Competitiveness strategy for energy and climate. This will aim at tapping synergies of efforts across the various sectors, including low-carbon energy technologies, transport R&I and global competitiveness of the EU on energy and climate technologies and innovation. The main objective of this strategy will be to accelerate the energy transformation in Europe and ensure that such a transformation is used for the EU industry to reach a leading position in low-carbon technologies, thereby fostering green growth and jobs. A public consultation will be issued soon. The strategy will be adopted with the second "State of the Energy Union" in 2016.

For more information
More information can be found at the relevant press-release  and accompanying memo.