Calling for 35% renewables in 2030 with binding national targets

On 23 October, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) from the Environment Committee proposed to reintroduce national targets and to meet an EU-wide goal of 35% green energy consumption by 2030.

This proposal is part of the reform of the renewable energy directive (RED II). In 2009, the Renewable Energy Directive set an EU-wide 2020 goal of 20% renewable share in the final energy consumption, with national targets. In RED II, it was suggested to increase this target to 27%, albeit no national targets were specified. MEPs now have proposed to re-introduce the mandatory national targets.

In addition, MEPs set sustainability requirements for bioenergy to avoid using unsustainable forest biomass while claiming to be “renewable”. They also proposed to phase out food-based first-generation biofuels by 2030 to prevent deforestation. Moreover, biofuel should comprise no more than 7% of the final energy consumption in road and rail t...