State Secretary Uroš Vajgl at the presentation of SHEES results
- Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning
REUS GOS 2022 supports the monitoring of household behavioural patterns, their willingness to change wasteful habits and the identification of key potentials for reducing energy consumption and related negative environmental and climate impacts. The REUS Survey is therefore important for future action planning. The European Green Deal also supports behavioural monitoring as one of the key factors in changing environmental habits.
State Secretary Uroš Vajgl said that he had attended the 27th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Egypt. He highlighted Secretary-General Antonio Guterres's statement that "humanity is sliding into climate hell with its foot on the gas". In his address, Uroš Vajgl said that "in recent years, humanity has been moving from crisis to crisis, and it is important to maintain the recognition that the climate crisis persists and that the transition to a carbon-free world is urgent. We have learnt lessons from the crises, and what really counts is whether we are really willing to change our patterns (working from home, travelling less, adapting our schooling, making purchases, changing our lifestyles). We can adapt sector by sector, but the fact is that emissions come from lifestyles. The EU has two instruments to help financially exit the crisis, NextGenEU (an economic recovery package to support the exit from the pandemic, which has almost doubled) and RepowerEU, which foresees a series of measures to rapidly reduce dependence on Russian fossil fuels and accelerate the green transition, while increasing the resilience of the energy system at EU level."
At the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (MoESP), we have been supporting the REUS survey, the results of which were presented by Informa Echo, since 2018.
State Secretary Uroš Vajgl pointed out that "the REUS survey is important because measures need to be based on expert evidence - in planning, monitoring and evaluation. REUS gives us an important long-term view - a time series, monitoring behaviour, including values. The Ministry of the Environment also uses its indicators to present the Report on Environment Condition. Improving energy efficiency makes an important contribution to meeting climate targets and reducing air pollution. We recognise that more fundamental changes are needed, but energy efficiency (EE) also has an important role to play."
After the opening remarks by the Secretaries of State, a roundtable discussion on "How to ensure that measures are implemented at home, at work, in public institutions and that energy is used wisely and sparingly, despite lower, capped energy prices" followed. On behalf of the Ministry of the Environment, the round table was attended by Mr Marko Maver, Associate in the Minister's Cabinet. Marko Maver stressed the inter-ministerial cooperation in improving energy efficiency and that "in our Ministry, through the Climate Fund, we finance energy efficiency measures in the fields of buildings, industry, transport, multi-sectoral measures, as well as awareness-raising and information measures."