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Bridging the Planning Gap: Transforming European NECPs to Deliver on Climate Targets
12 September 2023
Summary
This report posits that the National Energy and Climate Plan (NECP) revision process is a critical opportunity to transform Europe’s current climate and energy policy ambitions into policy action that enables an energy secure, net-zero Europe by 2050. This report elaborates CATF’s vision of the NECPs as valuable tools to maximise the medium-term planning potential of the Governance Framework, and recommends Member States include areas of research, collaboration, deployment, and investment in their NECPs beyond what is included in the European Commission’s NECP update guidance document and in previous NECP submissions. The report includes recommendations for key “components” that policymakers can imbue into NECPs to ensure these plans are fit for purpose. This report is part of CATF’s work in Europe focused on “An Options Based Strategy For Europe.” CATF hopes this report can empower national actors across Europe to engage more openly in the NECP process and inspire out-of-the-box thinking to meet Europe’s targets more quickly, efficiently, and cost effectively. This publication seeks to enhance understanding of the implications and opportunities of the NECP framework as a planning and investment tool to reach net-zero and provide specific recommendations to a broad range of institutional stakeholders through 2023-2024 as country-level NECPs are drafted and made public.
