New Russian Energy Efficiency Act

Abstract

Energy efficiency and energy savings are among the most important keywords used by President Medvedev in his attempts to describe the modernization tasks facing the Russian economy.1 This technical language, legally anchored in the new Energy Efficiency Act, which passed through the legislative process in the Russian Parliament in autumn 2009, was to put an end to the wasteful consumption of energy resources in Russia. One year after the entry into force of the Energy Efficiency Act, it is now useful to attempt to evaluate the legislative objectives and instruments of energy policy in the light of the presidential modernisation concept. How much will this novel approach to energy policy actually contribute to improving energy efficiency and increasing energy savings in Russia? Will the implementation of the Act make a cardinal change in the use of energy resources in Russia possible? To be able to answer these questions, it is necessary more than anything else to make a comparison enabling the effectiveness of the Russian energy measures to be measured. A trailblazer recognised throughout the world as such in the field of energy efficiency has now appeared on stage in the form of the European Union (EU) with its energy policies and the mechanisms to implement them. The new legislative acts of the EU in the area of energy efficiency of buildings and energy labels, which were recently adopted, set further standards for national energy policy. The experience of the EU would thus provide a good basis for the evaluation of the efficiency of the Russian measures intended to put its energy policies into effect.