EU Renewable Energy Policy
Renewable energies such as wind power, solar energy, hydropower and biomass can play a major role in tackling the twin challenge of energy security and global warming because they are not depletable and produce less greenhouse-gas emissions than fossil fuels.
Since the energy crises of the 1970s, several industrial nations have launched programmes to develop renewable energy solutions, but the return of low oil prices prevented renewable energies from picking up on a large commercial scale.
Renewable energies today cover 13.1% of global primary-energy supply and 17.9% of global electricity production (IEA, 2007). The IEA's World Energy Outlook 2006 foresees in its Alternative Policy Scenario that the share of renewables in global energy consumption by 2030 will remain largely unchanged at 14%. Renewables in electricity generation are expected to grow to around 25%, according to the IEA.
On 23 January 2008, the EU Commission put forward a proposal for a new EU Directive on renewable energies to replace the existing measures adopted in 2001. EU governments and the European Parliament reached a broad agreement on the proposal on 9 December 2008, which was then adopted by the Parliament in a plenary vote on 17 December. According to the text, each member state should increase its use of renewable energies - such as solar, wind or hydro - in a bid to boost the EU's share from 8.5% of the bloc's energy mix today to 20% by 2020. A 10% use of 'green fuels' in transport is also included within the overall EU objective. To achieve the targets, every nation in the 27-member bloc is required to increase its share of renewables by 5.5% from 2005 levels, with the remaining increase calculated on the basis of per capita gross domestic product (GDP):
|
Member State |
Share of renewables in 2005 |
Share required by 2020 |
|
Austria |
23.3% |
34% |
|
Belgium |
2.2% |
13% |
|
Bulgaria |
9.4% |
16% |
|
Cyprus |
2.9% |
13% |
|
Czech Republic |
6.1% |
13% |
|
Denmark |
17% |
30% |
|
Estonia |
18% |
25% |
|
Finland |
28.5% |
38% |
|
France |
10.3% |
23% |
|
Germany |
5.8% |
18% |
|
Greece |
6.9% |
18% |
|
Hungary |
4.3% |
13% |
|
Ireland |
3.1% |
16% |
|
Italy |
5.2% |
17% |
|
Latvia |
32.6% |
40% |
|
Lithuania |
15% |
23% |
|
Luxembourg |
0.9% |
11% |
|
Malta |
0% |
10% |
|
The Netherlands |
2.4% |
14% |
|
Poland |
7.2% |
15% |
|
Portugal |
20.5% |
31% |
|
Romania |
17.8% |
24% |
|
Slovak Republic |
6.7% |
14% |
|
Slovenia |
16% |
25% |
|
Spain |
8.7% |
20% |
|
Sweden |
39.8% |
49% |
|
United Kingdom |
1.3% |
15% |
Interim targets
The Commission also proposes a series of interim targets, in order to ensure steady progress towards the 2020 targets.
- 25% average between 2011 and 2012;
- 35% average between 2013 and 2014;
- 45% average between 2015 and 2016, and;
- 65% average between 2017 and 2018.
EU countries are free to decide their preferred 'mix' of renewables in order to take account of their different potentials, but must present national action plans (NAPs) based on an 'indicative trajectory' to the Commission by 30 June 2010, followed by progress reports submitted every two years. The plans will need to be defined along three sectors: electricity, heating and cooling, and transport. The compromise agreement eventually rejected a regime whereby member states would have faced financial penalties for failing to reach interim targets towards the 2020 goal. Brussels reserves the right to enact infringement proceedings if states do not take 'appropriate measures' towards their targets, meaning the decision to take legal action will be at the Commission's discretion rather than based on strict criteria.
