By 2030, the European Parliament wants renewable energy to be
used much more, and energy consumption to be greatly reduced.
On Wednesday, MEPs voted to raise the share of renewables in the
EU’s final energy consumption to 45% by 2030, under the revision
of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED) -a target also backed by
the European Commission under its "RepowerEU" package.
The legislation also defines sub-targets for sectors such as
transport, buildings, and district heating and cooling. In the
transport sector, deploying renewables should lead to a 16%
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, through the use of higher
shares of advanced biofuels and a more ambitious quota for
renewable fuels of non-biological origin such as hydrogen.
Industry should boost its use of renewables by 1.9 percentage
points per year, and district heating networks by 2.3 points.
Each member state will have to develop two cross-border projects
for the expansion of green electricity. Member states with an
annual electricity consumption of more than 100 TWh will have to
develop a third one by 2030.
MEPs also adopted amendments calling for phasing down the share
of primary wood counted as renewable energy.
The text was adopted with 418 votes in favour, 109 against and
111 abstentions.
Energy savings
In a separate vote on Wednesday, MEPs backed the revision of the
Energy Efficiency Directive (EED), the law that sets
energy-saving targets in both primary and final energy
consumption in the EU.
MEPs raised the EU target for reducing final and primary energy
consumption, so that member states must collectively ensure final
energy consumption is reduced by at least 40% by 2030 and 42.5%
in primary energy consumption compared to 2007 projections. This
corresponds to 740 and 960 million tonnes of oil equivalent
(Mtoe) for final and primary energy consumption, respectively.
Member states should set binding national contributions to
achieve these targets.
The targets will be met through measures at local, regional,
national and European levels, in different sectors - e.g. public
administration, buildings, businesses, data centres.
The text was adopted with 469 votes in favour, 93 against and 82
abstentions.
Quotes
"Only the expansion of renewable energy means true independence"
said Markus Pieper (EPP,
DE), lead MEP on the renewable energy directive. "We strongly
support the increased 2030 target of 45%. We confirm the need for
more cross-border cooperation to expand renewable energy
deployment, and call for a diversified import strategy for
hydrogen. We have also raised the requirements for the
sustainability of biomass and fuels, and showed ways in which
biogenic materials can make a real economic contribution to the
energy transition.”
Niels
Fuglsang (S&D, DK), rapporteur on the energy
efficiency directive, said: ". We are in a crisis where Putin is
shutting off gas. One of our most effective answers to this is
energy efficiency. It is crucial Parliament has today voted for
ambitious and binding energy efficiency targets for the EU and
for individual member states."
Next steps
MEPs and the Czech Presidency of the Council will now enter into
negotiations on the files, on which EU Ministers
have set their position in June.
Background
On 14 July 2021, the European Commission adopted the 'Fit for 55'
package, adapting existing climate and energy legislation to meet
the new EU objective of a minimum 55% reduction in greenhouse gas
(GHG) emissions by 2030. One element of the package is the
revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED II), which will
help the EU deliver the new 55% GHG target. Under RED II
currently in force, the EU is obliged to ensure at least 32% of
its energy consumption comes from renewable energy sources by
2030.
The “Fit for 55” package also includes the recast of the Energy
Efficiency Directive (EED), aligning its provisions to the new
55% GHG target. The EED currently sets out the level of energy
savings the EU needs to make to meet the agreed goal of 32.5%
energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
Further information
