Time for an EU climate policy 2.0?

(EurActiv, 10 Nov 2016) The European Commission will soon release its second annual report on the State of the European Energy Union. This is a pivotal moment in the EU’s political calendar, write Teresa Ribera and Thomas Spencer.

By Teresa Ribera is the director of IDDRI and Thomas Spencer is the climate programme director at IDDRI, the French Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations , a non-profit policy research institute based in Paris.

It is time for the EU to take stock and assesses its progress towards its energy and climate policy goals. One of the key questions the Energy Union report will address is whether the EU is on track to reach its emissions targets for 2030 and 2050?

At first glance, this may seem like a strange question to ask. The EU’s greenhouse gas emissions are 24.4% below 1990 levels, meaning that the bloc is tracking well ahead of its emissions target for 2020. Surely then, the EU is tracking ahead of where it needs to be to reach its 2030 objectives, a step on the way towards deep decarbonisation by 2050?

The EU has made tremendous progress in transforming its energy system. Carbon emissions per unit of electricity production dropped by 22.9% between 2000 and 2014, EU houses consumed 21.2% less energy per m² in 2013 than in 2000, EU passenger transport consumes 8.7% less fuel. This represents real and significant progress in changing the fundamentals of the EU energy system.

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EurActiv, 10 Nov 2016: Time for an EU climate policy 2.0?