The European Commission intends to propose a minimum share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy mix of between 38 and 40% as a new EU target for 2030 (the current target is ‘at least 32%’), according to a draft proposal for the revision of the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive (2018/2001) (RED II) obtained by EUROPE on Wednesday 16 June.
“Option 2 (a higher target than 40%) would potentially lead to overshooting the climate target and to a lack of coherence with other EU legislative instruments. Hence, option 1 (a minimum target of 38-40%) has no drawbacks and is thus the preferred and effective option”, says the draft document.
While this is in line with the indications contained in an earlier document from the institution detailed here (see EUROPE 12712/9), the draft does not yet provide a precise number, leaving crosses in place of the percentage in the articles of the text relating to this objective.
As regards the nature of the target, the document underlines the European Commission’s preference for the option of maintaining a binding EU-wide target and voluntary national contributions.
According to the institution, the option of setting binding national targets poses “subsidiarity issues”.
It should also be noted that the proposed revision of RED II – scheduled for 14 July as part of the presentation of the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package – will not consist of a complete overhaul of the text, but rather of a series of amendments.
“Given the relatively recent adoption of RED II, the proposed revision is limited to what is considered necessary to contribute in a cost-effective way to the Union’s 2030 climate ambition”, the European Commission document states.
EUROPE will continue to follow this story.
See the European Commission’s draft document: https://bit.ly/3wvpN7e (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)