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Draft EU renewables law falls short on geothermal
(EurActiv, 28 Jun 2021) A leaked version of the EU’s revised renewable energy directive is falling short of the geothermal industry’s expectations when it comes to boosting renewables in heating and cooling.
The European Commission is due to table a proposal to revise the renewable energy directive on 14 July, aiming to bring the legislation in line with Europe’s new climate ambition to cut emissions 55% by 2030.
The revised text seeks to roughly double the share for renewables in the EU’s energy mix, from around 20% currently to 38-20% by 2030.
And promoting renewables in heating and cooling will be essential if Europe wants to meet its climate goals as buildings consumes 40% of the bloc’s energy and are responsible for 36% of its emissions.
“Heating and cooling is half of the energy that we consume and about 75% of that is locked into fossil fuels at the moment,” said Sanjeev Kumar, head of policy at the European Geothermal Energy Council, an industry body.
“Unless the EU replaces that fossil fuel energy consumption with renewables, it will not come close to where we need to be. 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050 gets further and further away,” he warned.
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EurActiv, 28 Jun 2021: Draft EU renewables law falls short on geothermal
