In March 2007 the Council of the European Union (EU) decided to set more ambitious objectives to reduce CO2 and green house gas emissions and set targets of renewable energies in order to reduce Europe’s energy dependency on imported fuels and also possibly lead the way for a new industrial revolution.
On 23 January 2008 the European Commission (EC) came up with a legislative proposal Climate-change Energy Package that contained:
- a proposal for a review of the directive 2003/87/EC on the EU emission trading schemes (ETS),
- a proposal for a decision on the greenhouse gas emissions covering the non-ETS sectors,
- a proposal for a directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources,
- a proposal for a directive on carbon capture and storage,
- a Commission communication on the early demonstration of sustainable power generation from fossil fuels plants and
their funding, - guidelines on state aid for environmental protection.
The Climate-change Energy package aims at reaching the
ambitious level of a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas by 2020 compared to 1990 and at achieving a 20% share of renewable energies in overall EU consumption by 2020 including a target
of 10% for bio-fuels.
On 3 March, the Council of the EU held a debate on the Climate change Energy package. Ministers welcomed the proposal to make sure the transport sector contributes to the Community’s overall objective of combating climate change. However they stressed the need to strike the right balance between, on the one hand, competitiveness and competition neutrality and, on the other, the need to reduce CO2 emissions from road.
It is a co-decision procedure with the Parliament, however
Member States make efforts to find an agreement at last early2009, to make sure EU policy on the subject is ready before joining the climate summit in Copenhagen end 2009 that will decide on post Kyoto protocol.