During a session in Brussels today, which followed discussions on Ukraine, José Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, said the renewables target was vital in securing independence from fossil fuel imports.
Concerns over Europe’s energy security have mounted with the Russian annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region this week. Around a tenth of Europe’s gas supplies come from Russia through Ukrainian pipelines.
Barroso said: “Discussions on Ukraine reflect the importance of a stronger and truly European energy policy… Some of these goals are very much in line with energy security because if you have more renewables you are less dependent on imports of fossil fuels.”
Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, said Europe was “stepping up a gear” to reduce energy dependency, especially from Russia.
He said this could be achieved by diversifying supply routes to and within Europe and expanding renewable energy sources.
Several EU leaders including the UK’s energy secretary Ed Davey and representatives from France and Germany earlier this month, supported a target to reduce domestic greenhouse gas by at least 40 per cent by 2030.
The REA welcomed the comments but said it was disappointed that a number of countries, including the UK, had opposed binding targets for individual member states.
REA chief executive Nina Skorupska said: “Binding renewables targets for member states would boost investor confidence, reduce the costs of capital and enable faster cost reductions through learning, innovation and scaling. Ultimately they would help us upgrade our energy system faster for the urgent challenges of the twenty-first century.”
EU leaders today committed to reach a final agreement on the 2030 energy and climate framework by October this year, to take forward to next year’s UN climate change conference in Paris. The Council also instructed the Commission to conduct a study into measures to boost European energy security ahead of the next Council meeting in June.