The European Commission is considering forming regional clusters of member states to be collectively bound to meet EU-wide 2030 targets for renewables and energy efficiency, Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) newspaper reported on Monday.
A group of countries such as Austria, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands would be collectively required to meet a certain level of renewables or energy efficiency from the EU average, FAZ reported, citing a Commission briefing paper.
A second Commission option would be to set penalties for states failing to contribute more than the EU average towards the goal, with the money going to states doing more than the average.
A third option would be for the Commission to introduce further measures only once the gap between individual member state efforts and the collective EU total grows too large.
The paper said an agreement should be reached on the so-called ‘governance’ of the 2030 renewables and energy efficiency goals by next year at the latest.
FACTFILE:
- Last October, EU leaders agreed three 2030 goals including to raise the share of renewable energy to at least 27% of consumption and boost energy saving by 27% of BAU.
- They couldn’t agree whether to extend the 2020 regime of legally binding national goals, with only the -40% emission reduction goal made binding nationally
- Renewable proponents Germany and Portugal favour binding national goals. UK and Czech Republic favour a looser governance regime
- Member state officials meet for the first closed door technical discussions on this issue from mid-September
- If renewables and efficiency goals are not met it could prove bullish for EU carbon prices as more carbon-intensive power could be produced.
