Europe has published the final version of its new Renewable Energy Directive, along with other measures under the climate and energy package of legislation agreed earlier this year.
The new Directive requires 20% of energy to come from renewable sources by 2020, and sets each European country with a specific target.
This will require the UK to jump from its current 1.5% level of renewable energy to generate 15% of its energy from renewable sources within 11 years. The target includes heat and transport energy, which are seen as even more difficult to source from renewables than electricity in Britain.
The Renewable Energy Directive also sets specific targets for transport energy, requiring 10% renewable fuels or renewable electricity power by 2020.
Other measures now published in the European Union's Official Journal – meaning they are now fully in force – include a directive strengthening the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, a directive on carbon capture and storage and a regulation on vehicle emissions.
The measures include 300 free carbon emissions allowances for companies developing CCS demonstration plants, said to be worth as much as nine billion euros. This move has been criticised by Green MEPs, who believe the support should go to renewable energy instead.
Jobs
The EU Commission believes the 2020 renewable energy targets will support 2.8 million jobs in Europe, generating 1.1% of total GDP.
This represents a doubling of the renewable energy sector's employment figures for 2005, with biomass, wind and hydro technologies "currently the most important for employment", according to the Commission.
Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs said: "This shows that benefits of renewables in terms of security of supply and fighting climate change can go hand in hand with economic benefits".
The Commission's figures were based on new study that calls for stronger EU policies to reap the maximum economic benefits from renewable energy.
It suggested more innovative technologies such as photovoltaic, offshore wind, solar thermal electricity and second-generation biofuels require more financial support in the short term, and are "key" to achieving the EU's 2020 target and will increase employment and GDP in the mid term.
Buildings
The legislation published this month was effectively agreed last December, with a long wait since then for the final documents to be signed off and published. However, plenty more new legislation on energy and climate change is on the way, particularly seeking to address energy security issues.
The Energy Council meets today (June 12) in Luxembourg to discuss future action that can be taken on energy efficiency.
Ministers will be discussing the Commission's proposals to "recast" the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive to set "more ambitious and far-reaching" targets that could include requiring all buildings to have a zero-carbon energy balance by 2019.
It will be the last meeting of European energy ministers before the EU Presidency passes from the Czechs on to Sweden on July 1.
While Europe's current programme for new energy legislation is making energy security more of a priority, the Swedish government has said climate change will be a key priority for its EU Presidency, leading up to the UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
CCS vs Renewables
As well as the CCS Directive, which lays out the ground rules for storing carbon dioxide captured from power stations within underground rock formations, the EU Climate and Energy Package now published also hands 300 million free emissions trading allowances to new CCS projects.
Under the new emissions trading legislation, this effectively gives CCS projects funding after 2012 to spur on the new technology towards commercial viability.
The so-called "New Entrants Reserve" of allowances will also see a 25% proportion going to renewable energy projects.
However, Green MEPs slammed the funding support for CCS projects this week, saying that since funding was already going to CCS via the EU Recovery Package (see this New Energy Focus story), more free allowances should go to renewable energy.
Claude Turmes, the EU Parliament's lead negotiator on the Renewable Energy Directive, and Caroline Lucas, the leader of the UK's Green Party, said 75% of the free allowances should go to renewables, with 25% for CCS.
In a joint statement they said: "There are new emerging renewable energy technologies which offer much greater potential for emissions reductions, as well as energy independence."
Competition
Mr Turmes, who was in London yesterday to address the UK's Renewable Energy Association AGM, also added that he believed that giving priority to renewables would also help to keep control of the EU electricity market away from an "oligarchy" of energy companies.
"Research shows the credit crunch is hitting independent power operators hardest, and these make up the bulk of renewables energy investors over the last years," he said.
"Having already favoured the dominant energy companies in the so-called EU recovery plan, the EU Commission must not once again favour the big players over the independent operators, at the expense of having a competetive energy market with fair prices for consumers."
