EU Sets Landmark Renewable Energy Target of 20% by 2020

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EU officials have agreed to a bill requiring twenty percent of Europe’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.

offshore wind turbines The European Parliament reached a landmark deal on Tuesday by agreeing to meet 20 percent of Europe’s energy needs with renewable sources by 2020. Meeting in Brussels in advance of the EU climate summit later this week in Poznan, Poland, representatives of 27 EU member states hammered out the bold agreement, despite it being almost derailed by two substantial challenges.

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The renewables directive is part of a broader EU climate change strategy which aims to slash greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 and make 20 percent cuts in energy use. Having a meaningful piece of the energy puzzle in place before the climate talks later this week creates a strong policy foundation, making those difficult negotiations that much easier.

Greenpeace, traditionally at odds with the bulk of EU climate and energy policy, praised the agreement, all except for the biofuels portion of it. And it was the biofuels portion of the directive that almost kept it from passing. European Greens were strongly opposed to the biofuel mandate for transportation fuels, yet their opposition could not muster the kind of support needed to take it out of the bill.

“We give the EU eight out of ten for its renewables deal. This agreement is a new dawn for a clean energy future that will benefit the climate and the economy,” said Frauke Thies, Greenpeace EU renewables policy campaigner in a statement.

“The only drawback is that EU politicians are insisting on the large-scale promotion of biofuels. They are not sufficiently protecting the planet from the ravages that can be caused by unsustainable biofuels,” said Thies.

Other opposition to the renewables bill came from a coalition led by the Italians arguing that the feasibility of the targets should be reanalyzed in 2014. The Italian-led challenge was also defeated.

Part of reaching the aggressive climate targets will undoubtedly be to reduce energy demand and the EU also made progress in that area as environment ministers recently agreed to ban the use of incandescent light bulbs.