National Plan on Sustainable Development

Country / jurisdiction: Luxembourg · Year: 1999 · Status: In force · Level: National · Type: Voluntary

The National Plan for Sustainable Development, finalized in 1998 and entering into force in 1999, lays out a strategy for sustainable development in the different economic areas of Luxembourg.

The Plan strives to:

Achieve 20% reduction in energy intensity between 1993 and 2010.;

Balance environmental protection and economic growth;

Promote renewable energy and energy efficient technologies;

Promote human behavior compatible with the objectives;

In order to achieve above target, wide range of measures are being outlined in the Plan. Main energy efficiency measures by sector are as follow:

Energy efficiency measures per sector

General

Introduces an energy tax compatible with EU regulations[1];

To favor the use of the best available technology;

To increase information and dissemination efforts;

To favor investments for energy savings;

Creation of the fund supporting deployment of renewable energies.

Buildings

To improve the energy efficiency of new and existing buildings;

To reach a 30% reduction between 1990 and 2020 in the energy consumed to heat a constant surface in buildings.

Transport

To set annual taxes on vehicles according to their fuel consumption and emissions to encourage the purchase of less polluting vehicles;

To increase by 30% the share of public transport use for medium-length distances between 1997 and 2010;

To reduce the use of transport and to reduce travel distances;

To link Luxembourg rail network to the high-speed rail network and to improve international railway connections.

[1] Embodied in Directives 2003/55/EC and 2003/54/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council Concerning Common Rules for the Internal Market in Natural Gas and Electricity