February 15, 2008—The European Commission recently agreed on a far-reaching package of proposals that will deliver the Council’s commitments to fight climate change and promote renewable energy. The proposals reportedly demonstrate that the targets agreed upon last year are technologically and economically possible and provide new business opportunities for thousands of European companies.
The EC says that these measures will dramatically increase the use of renewable energy in each country and set legally enforceable targets for governments to achieve them. All major CO2 emitters will be given an incentive to develop clean production technologies through a thorough reform of the Emissions Trading System (ETS) that will impose an EU-wide cap on emissions.
The package seeks to reduce greenhouse gases in the European Union by at least 20% and increases to 20% the share of renewable energies in the energy consumption by 2020, as agreed by EU leaders in March 2007. The emissions reduction will be increased to 30% by 2020 when a new global climate change agreement is reached.
In sectors not covered by the ETS, such as buildings, transport, agriculture and waste, the EU will reduce emissions to 10% below 2005 levels by 2020. For each Member State the Commission is proposing a specific target by which it must reduce or, in the case of new Member States, may increase its emissions up to 2020. These changes range from -20% to +20%.
For more information visit the European Commission Web site.
