Brussels, 04/12/2007 (Agence Europe) - European energy ministers, meeting in Brussels on Monday 3 December, held a policy debate on the strategic energy technology plan brought forward by the European Commission on 22 November (see EUROPE 9549). They welcomed the plan and approved its main points. To inform the debate, the presidency had drawn up a discussion paper, “A New Era for Energy”. Reviewing the debate for the press, the chairman of the Energy Council, Portuguese Economy Minister Manuel Pinho presented the main long-term thrust of a “technological” roadmap drawn up by the presidency to reach the target of a 60-80% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions and to stabilise energy consumption at current levels by 2050. The roadmap is based on four specific objectives: - reduction of emissions in the electric and housing sectors; - a 40% reduction of emissions in the transport sector; - increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the EU energy mix to one third (the European Council set a target of 20% by 2020); - redoubling efforts in terms of energy efficiency (the European Council set a target of 20% energy savings on current energy consumption by 2020). “There is no magic wand but there are various combinations to achieve our targets. Each of these sectors contributes to the problem, so all have to be part of the solution,” Pinho said. The Energy Council agreed that the creation of a new energy model required: - the immediate adoption of already available or emerging clean technologies and the development of a new generation of technologies which will deliver after 2020; - the creation of the appropriate instruments to accelerate technological changes in the energy sector and to promote private investment; - stable regulation for investment; - the creation of a transparent carbon plan which gives a more realistic assessment of the costs of emissions; - international partnerships to encourage worldwide development of clean energy technologies; - a good model of world governance. (E.H.)