Negotiators from the Council and MEPs reached a provisional agreement on the proposed energy efficiency directive. Under the agreement, Member States will set themselves indicative national targets and save energy in specific ways, such as renovating buildings and stipulating the size of energy savings to be delivered by utilities.

The European Parliament announced that MEPs and Council negotiators struck a provisional deal on 14 of June with regard to the proposed energy efficiency directive. According to the MEP leader of negotiations, Claude Turmes, the deal will give a boost to Europe's economy and help achieve our energy security and climate goals. Mr Turmes also stressed that the new energy efficiency legislation sets out binding measures, which will go a significant way towards bridging the current gap the EU faces in meeting its pledge to reduce energy consumption 20% by 2020. In March 2012, the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy approved a series of binding measures to help implement the overall 20% target.

In addition, among other things, under the new directive energy companies covered by the directive would have to achieve a cumulative end-use energy savings target by 2020. This target would have to be at least equivalent to achieving new savings, each year, from 2014 to 2020, of 1.5% of annual energy sales to final customers, by volume, and averaged over the most recent three-year period before the directive takes effect. Moreover, all large enterprises would be required to undergo an energy audit.

On the other hand, MEPs also proposed establishing financing facilities for energy efficiency measures. Member States would need to facilitate the establishment of these facilities or the use of existing ones. The provisionally agreed text still needs to be adopted by the Council and by the European Parliament as a whole.