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In this article, heat energy transition pathways in the UK, Germany and Sweden have been compared by evaluating empirical to ideal scenarios. Heat energy transition is the core of the energy transition, as heating is currently the most energy-intensive activity in Europe.

The European Union has set itself the goal of reducing EU primary energy consumption by 20% by 2020, compared to current projections. The Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) (2012/27/EU) was adopted on 25 October 2012 and entered into force on 5 December 2012. The Article 7 EED knowledge sharing platform brings together information on EEO schemes and alternative policy measures from across the EU (and beyond) in one central place.

Integrated Manure Management (IMM) is a transition pathway in the livestock sector used as a case study in this report. It is an alternative to reducing livestock (RL) numbers and both can be scored in terms of their contribution to meeting environmental targets. With a better understanding of the side-effects of alternative pathways, it will be easier to develop a more robust and integrated policy framework for low-carbon transitions in the livestock sector.

Austria will add additional financial means to the existing policy framework to reach their target value for primary energy consumption of 1050 PetaJoule in 2020 (compared to 1120 PJ in 2013). The case study has analysed whether energy efficiency improvement policies lead to overlaps with policies at the level of provincial governments and what this could mean for the effectiveness and efficiency of the policies.

‘20-20-20’ EU energy and climate package targets for 2020 contain three climate and energy goals: 20% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, a 20% increase in share of renewable energy, and 20% increase in energy efficiency. The impact assessment for the 2020 package was duly conducted with the assumption of coexisting energy and climate policies in place. It is increasingly recognised that there are possible detrimental effects of ‘overlapping policies’ that target the same sector.