European Union Must Take Action Now to Meet 2020 Goal of 20 Percent of Total Energy From Renewables

The European Union has committed to generating 20 percent of its total energy consumption by 2020 from renewable sources. The the EU has a long ways to go since today the percentage stands at 8.5 percent.

The Centre for European Reform, one of the premier think-tanks in Europe, has just published a policy brief that addresses the challenges facing the EU. In "How to Meet the EU's 2020 Renewables Target," climate and energy economist Stephan Tindale considers what the EU needs to do to meet the target.

Tindale identifies three key issues:

• "Concentrate as much on biomass and renewable gas (biogas) as renewable electricity. A major increase in the amount of biogas generated from sewage, manure and food waste would be a cost-effective way to meet the target. Because it runs through existing grid infrastructure, biogas significantly reduces the cost of renewables development.
• "Expand the infrastructure required to link renewable sources of energy to energy-users including the rapid expansion of electricity grids (both onshore and offshore). The EU should help to finance the construction of an offshore grid spanning the North Sea, linking Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and the U.K. Similarly, it would should support the building of a grid linking Southern Europe with North Africa, which would make it possible to import energy from African solar farms.
• "Reduce subsidies to emissions-intensive forms of agriculture, such as cattle farming. Subsidies should be shifted to more sustainable cultivation and production of renewable gas. For example, farmers should be given financial incentives to turn agricultural waste and manure into biogas."

Last December, the EU agreed to a package of measures aimed at reducing carbon emissions and moving towards a low-carbon economy. Some environmental groups in Europe have criticized the package, arguing that a tougher set of measures should have been adopted. But all of this has to be put into some perspective -- no other nation or group of nations has taken anywhere near as much action on addressing climate change. In addition, there is probably a point beyond which the even wildly-green European Parliament will not go in the absence of evidence that some of the other major economies (e.g., China, India, the U.S.) are making progress.

The next big event for the EU is the U.N. Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen in December. All European eyes are on what is happening in the other major economies. For now, Europe is largely on its own. Can it afford to maintain this position if no one else follows?