European Parliament calls for renewable goals upgrade
MEPs propose to reintroduce mandatory national targets to reach an EU 35 percent goal
By Ebru Sengul
ANKARA
Members of the European Parliament's Committee on Environment (MEPs) proposed to raise the EU's renewable energy goals for 2030, the Parliament announced in a press release on Tuesday.
"The share of energy from renewable sources, such as solar or wind, should be at least 35 percent of the Union’s gross final consumption of energy by 2030, Environment MEPs said on Monday," the statement read.
The approved legislative text is part of the ongoing reform of the renewables energy directive, a central piece of the EU energy and climate change policy, which had already set a 20 percent target for 2020, back in 2009, with individual targets for each EU country.
The European Commission proposed to prolong the scheme until 2030, raising the target to at least 27 percent, albeit as an EU-wide target. MEPs propose to reintroduce mandatory national targets to reach an EU 35 percent goal.
The draft legislation states that with this proposal, the share of biofuels should be no more than 7 percent of final consumption of energy in road and rail transport.
The report was adopted by 32 votes to 29, with four abstentions. The Committee on Industry, which has the lead competence on this file, (with the exception of the articles dealing with biofuels and sustainability criteria, which are the remit of the Environment committee) will vote on Nov. 28 on whether to bring the proposal into law.
