Brussels likely to decide on 2030 renewables target in June

The European Commission is likely to decide within months whether to propose a mandatory renewable energy target in 2030 in the European Union (EU), according to a senior official.

The controversial decision will probably be revealed in a report in June, said Jean-Arnold Vinois, the acting head of the internal energy market directorate in the commission’s energy arm DG Energy. “We probably need something later this year,” he told a renewable energy meeting in Brussels organised by Lexxion.

Under the EU Energy Roadmap 2050, renewable energy is expected to account for 75 per cent of the bloc’s final energy consumption and 97 per cent of electricity consumption. However, some EU countries and other players have previously rejected calls for an intermediate 30 per cent target in 2030.

The existing 2020 mandatory target of 20% of energy consumption to come from renewables – a core part of EU energy and climate strategy – looks certain to be beaten. National Renewable Energy Action Plans project a 21 per cent figure. At the Lexxion meeting, Mechthild Wörsdörfer, the head of energy policy and monitoring in DG Energy, suggested about 25 per cent.

Rainer Hinrichs-Rahlwes, the president of the European Renewable Energies Federation, said that the renewable energy industry expected to reach 24 per cent and warned that a mandatory 2030 target to avoid a failure of the EU’s renewable energy policy. “45 per cent is a good first step for 2030,” he said.

By Vic Wyman