National energy and climate plans (NECPs)

The national energy and climate plans (NECPs) were introduced by the Regulation on the governance of the energy union and climate action (EU)2018/1999, agreed as part of the Clean energy for all Europeans package, adopted in 2019.

Areas covered by the NECPs

The national plans outline how the EU countries intend to address

energy efficiency
renewables
greenhouse gas emissions reductions
interconnections
research and innovation

This approach requires a coordination across all government departments. It also provides a level of planning that will ease public and private investment.

Draft NECPs

The draft NECPs were submitted early 2019. The Commission prepared a Communication assessing the 28 draft NECPs in June 2019 (COM/2019/285), together with specific recommendations and a detailed "Staff Working Document" for each EU country.

The Commission also published detailed annexes on methodology (SWD/2019/212) and national forestry accounting plans (SWD/2019/213).

Final NECPs

The final integrated national energy and climate plans for the period from 2021 to 2030 were submitted by EU countries by 31 December 2019. The Commission’s individual assessments of each plan (in English and the relevant national language) were published later in 2020.

Draft updates of the NECPs

By 30 June 2023, EU countries were expected to submit their draft updated NECPs to the Commission, in line with Article 14 of the Governance Regulation.

National long-term strategies

Under the governance regulation, EU countries were also required to develop national long-term strategies by 1 January 2020 and ensure consistency between long-term-strategies and the 10-year NECPs.