The Wall Street Journal-20080124-Politics - Economics- EU Countries Get Renewable-Energy Targets
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Politics & Economics: EU Countries Get Renewable-Energy Targets
BRUSSELS -- European commission officials set individual country targets for renewable-energy use, a critical step in a plan to have 20% of the European Union's energy come from renewable sources -- such as wind, solar and biofuels -- by 2020.
The targets aren't likely to cool a simmering debate about how the burden of greening Europe should be divvied up among the EU's 27- member countries. Of particular concern is the extent to which countries should be able to meet their benchmarks by trading renewable "certificates" instead of investing in renewable energy on their own soil.
The EU approved the basic 20% goal last year but left aside the politically sensitive task of fixing specific targets. The targets proposed yesterday could well change as the proposal works its way through the EU's legislative system. France, in particular, has resisted renewable-energy targets; its preferred source of energy, nuclear, is low-carbon but not considered renewable by the EU.
The targets are part of an omnibus climate-change proposal that would also set greenhouse-gas-reduction targets, call for increased use of biofuels and revise the bloc's carbon-trading plan.
"I believe that this will be an important moment for Europe," Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said, adding that he hopes the bloc's actions will spur change elsewhere.
According to the commission's most recent data, only 8.5% of the EU's energy consumption in 2005 came from renewable sources. But the percentages vary widely by country. Tiny Malta and Luxembourg used almost no renewable energy that year; in Sweden, almost 40% of energy consumed was renewable.
Some of the EU's biggest countries will have to make substantial leaps, thanks to a mechanism that puts a greater burden on countries with higher per-capita gross domestic product. Britain -- at 1.3% renewable in 2005, according to the commission's figures -- must reach 15%. Germany must go from 5.8% to 18%. The proposals by the commission, the EU's executive arm, need to be ratified by the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers, which could take many months.
The United Kingdom's business secretary, John Hutton, called the proposals "a welcome starting point" for negotiations, adding that whatever the outcome, the U.K. is committed to major expansion of offshore wind-power stations. But Britain is expected to push for greater ability to purchase renewable certificates from other countries -- which it might need to reach the target.
That puts it at odds with Germany, which has worried that an open market for certificates could drive up their prices. High prices could encourage German producers of renewable energy to sell their certificates abroad instead of helping Germany meet its renewable target. Under the current proposal, countries can stop producers from selling their certificates abroad.
Germany supports renewable-energy producers through a surcharge on electric customers' bills -- a system that German officials say has been successful in increasing the use of renewable energy.
Industry groups are also wary of the proposals. A spokesman for the electricity-industry lobby, Eurelectric, said the group is "disappointed" that cross-border certificate trading was presented "only as a limited secondary possibility."
