Member states left to set own renewable targets

Date: 02/03/2000

By Renée Cordes

ENERGY Commissioner Loyola de Palacio will not recommend setting binding national or EU-wide targets for energy consumption for solar and other renewable sources when she unveils her proposals next month.

Following consultations with Union governments, the Commissioner has decided to stick to her original plan and leave it up to individual member states to set their own goals for energy generated by wind, solar and other renewable sources.

But a spokesman insisted that the EU executive could consider a tougher approach, with binding targets, later if it became clear that the Union was in danger of missing its long-term goal of doubling the share of renewable energy to 12% of total energy use by 2010.

"The Commissioner's idea is to make an ambitious proposal but one that takes into account the reality of the European situation," he said, adding that the institution would monitor member states' progress in promoting renewables closely.

The move will disappoint green campaigners and officials in the Commission's environment department who argue that binding national targets are essential, but delight the majority of EU governments which are opposed to this approach.

Work on the latest guidelines began last year after Union energy ministers urged the institution to draft legislation to boost the renewables industry. This is seen as crucial to help the Union meet the pledges it made at the 1997 Kyoto climate-change conference to cut emissions of greenhouse gases.

De Palacio had been due to unveil her proposals, which are designed to strike a balance between promoting the use of clean energy and ensuring that state subsidies to this fledgling industry do not conflict with rules designed to promote a single electricity market, last autumn.

But the Spanish Commissioner delayed drawing up concrete plans to give member states - plus Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway - more time to voice their views.

The long-awaited proposal is now due to be adopted by the full Commission next month, in time for national energy officials to scrutinise it before the ministerial meeting at the end of May.

The EU executive is also planning to address Competition Commissioner Mario Monti's plans for new state-aid guidelines for environmental protection measures in late April or early May, nearly two months ahead of schedule, to allay concerns that discussion of De Palacio's proposals would otherwise be clouded in legal uncertainty. Environmental organisations have expressed fears that the renewables plan would be rendered meaningless if it conflicted with the state-aid regulations.

Energy Commissioner Loyola de Palacio will not recommend setting binding national or EU-wide targets for energy consumption for solar and other renewable sources when she unveils her proposals in April. Following consultations with Union governments, the Commissioner has decided to stick to her original plan and leave it up to individual Member States to set their own goals for energy generated by wind, solar and other renewable sources.