EU Policy and meeting the targets

The EU is working to reduce the effects of climate change and establish a common energy policy. By 2020 renewable energy should account for 20% of the EU's final energy consumption (9.2% in 2006).

According to Europe’s Energy Portal the UK has the biggest challenge ahead in getting to its 2020 target of 15%...

 
EU Member State
2006 Figure
2020 Target
% To cover:
1
United Kingdom
1.5%
15%
13.5%
2
Ireland
2.9%
16%
13.1%
3
Denmark
17.2%
30%
12.8%
4
France
10.5%
23%
12.5%
5
Netherlands
2.7%
14%
11.3%
6
Spain
8.7%
20%
11.3%
7
Greece
7.1%
18%
10.9%
 
EU
9.2%
20%
10.8%
8
Italy
6.3%
17%
10.7%
9
Latvia
31.4%
42%
10.6%
10
Belgium
2.6%
13%
10.4%
11
Cyprus
2.7%
13%
10.3%
12
Germany
7.8%
18%
10.2%
13
Luxembourg
1%
11%
10%
14
Malta
0%
10%
10%
15
Portugal
21.5%
31%
9.5%
16
Slovenia
15.5%
25%
9.5%
17
Finland
28.9%
38%
9.1%
18
Austria
25.1%
34%
8.9%
19
Lithuania
14.6%
23%
8.4%
20
Estonia
16.6%
25%
8.4%
21
Hungary
5.1%
13%
7.9%
22
Sweden
41.3%
49%
7.7%
23
Poland
7.5%
15%
7.5%
24
Slovakia
6.8%
14%
7.2%
25
Bulgaria
8.9%
16%
7.1%
26
Romania
17%
24%
7%
27
Czech republic
6.5%
13%
6.5%
 
See http://www.energy.eu/#renewable for more information.
Relevant EU legislation

There are hundreds of EU directives related to energy – see the list below sourced from Europe’s Energy Portal http://www.energy.eu/#directives
 
- Energy Efficiency / Renewables
National RE Action Plans under Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.
On the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources.
Green paper - A European Strategy for Sustainable, Competitive and Secure Energy.
Green paper Annex - What is at stake, a background document.
20 20 by 2020 Europe's climate change opportunity.
Establishing harmonised efficiency reference values for separate production of electricity and heat.
On the promotion of cogeneration based on a useful heat demand in the internal energy market.
A framework for the setting of ecodesign requirements for energy-using products.
On energy end-use efficiency and energy services.
Implementing Council Directive 92/75/EEC with regard to energy labelling of household lamps.
On a Community energy-efficiency labelling programme for office equipment.
On the energy performance of buildings.
 
For more information see http://www.energy.eu/#directives

Under EC law, the result laid out by a directive is mandatory but member states have leeway in how they will achieve that result. What this means is that each EU state will be required to plan their national future of energy .  

The EU commission has now prepared the National Action Plan template (see http://ec.europa.eu/energy/renewables/action_plan_template_en.htm) and member states have until June 2010 to produce their plans.

Minimum requirements for the National Action Plans include expected consumption demands for electricity, h+c and transport and the expected contribution of each renewable energy technology to reach their target (e.g. wind, solar, geothermal, biofuels etc.)

In addition will be the support schemes that will leverage the technologies (e.g. financial mechanisms, incentives, tax breaks, quotas, certificates, fines, feed-in tariffs and subsidies etc).

Members must also indicate what ‘joint projects’  they will do with other member state or non-EU states  and what ‘statistical transfers’  they will do to make up their targets, which is essentially pre-arranged transfer of renewable energy ‘credits’ between 2 member states or member and non-EU member.

The timing of the directive is explicit; it is meant to reinvigorate the European economy and bring employment to a recession hit landscape. The levelling effect of the credit crunch means competitiveness lies once again in innovation.

‘Cash is King’ and the European Future Energy Forum will be the largest meeting of private equity investors, clean tech funds and financial instituitions in the EU market this year and the basis of the largest exhange of renewable knowledge in the EU.
 

For information on EU Renewables including Wind, Carbon Capture Storage (CCS), Wind and Tidal, Solar PV and Solar Thermal, Biomass and Geothermal please click here.
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