CACTUS – Consolidating Ambitious Climate Targets with End-Use Sufficiency

Background

Decarbonisation efforts often focus on energy efficiency and renewable energy; they have accounted for up to 95 percent of achieved greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. Energy sufficiency is a key further lever that augments the range of approaches available for decarbonisation. The Central Eastern European context sees high energy dependency, high energy poverty, low energy services, as well as a fast catching-up economy and lifestyles. To integrate energy sufficiency successfully into regional climate and energy scenario models, decision makers have to take these realities into account.

Excessive numbers of airconditioners on a building, conributing to unnecessarily high levels of energy consumption; Photo: (c) Unsplash

Project

CACTUS aims to sensitise key scenario builders, policy makers and wider EU and climate energy stakeholders on the potential of energy sufficiency. To this end, experts from négaWatt (France), Fraunhofer ISI (Germany), REKK (Hungary) and LEI (Lithuania) engage in technical dialogue and capacity building activities. They analyse the sufficiency potential in Hungary’s and Lithuania’s transport and building sectors. Subsequently, they explore its integration into scenario models and into national climate and energy strategies.

Furthermore, participants develop suggestions for the local energy transition context and analyse the integration of sufficiency in existing scenarios, also considering potential long-term impacts. Results from this exploration inform the dialogue with key policy makers.

Sharing knowledge and building capacities is key to the various formats CACTUS organises: at least four national modelling experts participate in three technical workshops, at least ten policy makers in two policy dialogues. Three technical reports and two policy briefs make the acquired knowledge available to a broader public. Finally, a peer-reviewed article and a final conference at EU level ensure further dissemination of the project results.