Finland Times

The proposed target goes beyond the 25 percent energy savings target which would be required to achieve a 40 percent reduction of CO2 emissions by 2030.

"It is ambitious and at the same time it is realistic," Gunther  Oettinger, Vice-President of the EU Commission responsible for energy, said.

"Our aim is to give the right signal to the market and encourage further investments in energy saving technologies to the benefit of businesses, consumers and the environment," he added.

The proposed target builds on recent achievements, the European Commission said in a statement, noting that new buildings use half the energy they did in the 1980s and industry is about 19 percent less energy-intensive than in 2001.

Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) called on member states to step up their efforts to ensure collective delivery of the 2020 target, which includes a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and a 20 percent share in renewable energy in the EU energy mix.

The EU is currently forecast to achieve energy savings of 18-19 percent in 2020. However, the target of 20 percent can only be reached if all EU countries fully implement agreed legislation, said the statement.

So far, Italy, Cyprus, Denmark, Malta and Sweden have declared full transposition of the EU law in their national legislation. The deadline for doing so was June 5.