One of the requirements of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) is that larger organizations (including more than 250 employees) must have carried out a so-called energy audit. The first audit had to be carried out on 5 December 2015. The energy audit must be performed at a frequency of once every four years.

Implementation in The Netherlands

In July 2015, the Temporary Regulation on the Implementation of Articles 8 and 14 of the Energy Efficiency Directive was published, which legally regulates the implementation of the Directive in the Netherlands. This guideline was amended on June 4, 2019. The second energy audit must be submitted 4 years after the first report, but no later than 31 December 2020. The exemption for MJA3 companies to perform an energy audit has expired. Due to the termination of the MJA covenants as of 1 January 2021, it has been decided that companies, to which the EED applies, must also submit an energy audit by 31 December 2020 at the latest. With the amended temporary arrangement, the responsibility for the EED has been shifted from the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. The implementation of the assessment is fully entrusted to the RVO. The Environmental Services can take follow-up steps based on the information from RVO. More information about the EED can be found on the website of the RVO.

Opportunities to comply with the EED

There are two options for complying with the EED obligation:

• through an ISO 50001 certified energy management system
• through a certified environmental management system based on the certification scheme 'CO2 reduction management with ISO 14001'. This is an SCCM certification scheme and only available in Dutch. See www.sccm.nl/certificatieschemas-energie.