Orange with Media Services, published on Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 07:00
The money spent by European companies on reducing their energy consumption represented only 10% of the total amount of their investments last year, according to a study published this week by the European Investment Bank (EIB).
Reducing energy consumption has become a key issue for households and businesses alike since the launch of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine at the end of February. The war not only jeopardized Europe’s energy supply but also caused the prices of electricity and gas to soar, making the bills all the more expensive.
The French government has set itself the objective of reducing the country’s energy consumption by 10% by 2024. Companies still have to get started, and in Europe they are lagging behind, with only four out of 10 companies having invested in 2021.
The money spent by European companies on reducing their energy consumption accounted for only 10% of their total investment last yearalso reveals a study published this week by the European Investment Bank (EIB) in the 2022 edition of its Annual Survey on Investment*.
However, the study highlights major disparities between countries. In Finland (54%) or Austria (51%), more than one in two companies, for example, invested in 2021 to consume less energy, while in Lithuania (20%) or France (24%) less than one in four companies have done so.
European companies ahead of American ones
The chief economist of the EIB Debora Revoltella nevertheless notes that European firms are investing “more and more” in the field of “climate action”. Compared to 2020, the percentage of European companies that devote part of their financial resources to energy efficiency has increased by three points (from 37% to 40%). The “shock” embodied by the war in Ukraine “should be an additional incentive” to invest in reducing energy consumption.
European companies are in any case ahead of their American competitors, since among the latter, only 36% have spent to boost their energy sobriety in 2021 (4 points less than in Europe).
Generally speaking, the impact of the war in Ukraine on private investment in Europe seems limited for the time being. Just over 6% of companies say they are financially constrained in 2022, a slight increase in proportion compared to recent years but still lower than the 6.78% of companies under constraint in 2017.
* The survey was carried out between April and July 2022 among a representative sample of 13,000 companies from the 27 Member States of the European Union. A sample of US companies was also interviewed for comparison purposes.
