The climate and energy package

In order to deliver on these targets, the so-called ‘energy and climate change package’ of legislative acts was agreed in 2008 and the different parts then formally adopted in the following yeard4 A core element of the package was the new effortsharing decision previously discussed. 15

Directive 2009/28/EC on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources was also a part of the packaged6 It translates the target of a 20 per cent share of energy from renewable sources in overall EU energy consumption by 2020 into individual targets for each Member Stated7 The highest target is set for Sweden, which is to have 49 per cent of energy from renewable sources in its gross final consumption of energy in 2020. Malta has the lowest target at 10 per cent, while Great Britain has committed to 15 per cent, Germany to 18 per cent, and France to 23 per cent. The individual contributions towards the overall EU target of 20 per cent energy from renewable sources have been calculated taking into account the Member States’ [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

different starting points and potentials, including the existing level of energy from renewable sources and the energy mix. The Directive also contains the controversial obligation that the share of energy from renewable sources in all forms of transport in each Member State in 2020 is to be at least 10 per cent of the final consumption of energy in transport in that Member State.[7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] At the same time, an amendment to the Fuel Quality Directive introduced a mandatory target to achieve by 2020 a 6 per cent reduction in the greenhouse gas intensity of fuels used in road transport and non-road mobile machinery.19 The main purpose of setting such mandatory targets for each Member State is to provide certainty for investors and to encourage continuous development of technologies which generate energy from renewable sources.20 The climate and energy package also contained new legislation on carbon capture and storage (CCS) and amendments to the Directive establishing the EU ETS entailing a gradual reduction in the number of emission allowances, so that by 2020 21 per cent fewer allowances are to be allocated compared to 2005.21

In 2011 the Commission published ‘A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050’, in which it presents scenarios showing how a competitive low-carbon economy, implying reductions in domestic emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 compared to 1990, may be achieved. The roadmap is to be used as a basis for developing further sector-specific policy initiatives.22

  • [1] Regarding the projections, see Communication from the Commission—Action Plan for EnergyEfficiency: Realising the Potential (19 October 2006) COM(2006) 545 final.
  • [2] Ibid.
  • [3] Presidency Conclusion, Meeting of the European Council 11—12 December 2008 (13 February2009) 17271/1/08 REV 1, 8.
  • [4] Dec 406/2009/EC (n 11).
  • [5] Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of theuse of energy from renewable sources and amending and subsequently repealing Directives 2001/77/EC and 2003/30/EC [2009] OJ L 140/16.
  • [6] Ibid, Art 3 and Annex I.
  • [7] Dir 2009/28/EC (n 16), Art 3.
  • [8] Directive 98/70/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the quality ofpetrol and diesel fuels and amending Council Directive 93/12/EEC [1998] OJ L 350/58.
  • [9] Ibid, preambular para 14.
  • [10] This was made effective through Directive 2009/29/EC of the European Parliament and of theCouncil amending Directive 2003/87/EC so as to improve and extend the greenhouse gas emissionallowance trading scheme of the Community [2009] OJ L 140/63.
  • [11] Communication from the Commission—A Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carboneconomy in 2050 (8 March 2011) COM(2011) 112 final, 4 and 14.
  • [12] European Council, 2014, European Council (23 and 24 October 2014): Conclusions on 2030Climate and Energy Policy Framework, SN 79/14 (23 October 2014) 1.
  • [13] 24 Submission by Latvia and the European Commission on behalf of the European Union andits Member States (6 March 2015) available at (visited 15 January 2016).
 
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