The negotiators of the Council and the European Parliament They have arrived this Thursday at a provisional political agreement to increase the share of renewable energy in the total energy consumption of the European Union (EU) from 32% to 42.5% by 2030, with an additional indicative supplement of 2.5% that will make it possible to reach 45%, the figure defended by countries like Spain.
It’s about a provisional agreement on the new renewable energy directive which must still be endorsed by both institutions whose common objective, to which each Member State must contribute, is to accelerate the integration of renewables in sectors where incorporation has been slower, such as transport, industry, buildings and heating and district cooling.
The Council and Parliament have finished their negotiations in what has been their eighth meeting after the France claimswhich requested a “differentiated” treatment between nuclear power and fossil fuels in the directive, have made it difficult for the 27 to reach a general position at ambassadorial level that has been unlocked based on a compromise presented by the Swedish Council presidency. “It has cost a lot”, has recognized the third vice president and minister for the Ecological Transition, Teresa Riberawho congratulated the negotiators on the agreement reached in a message posted on his Twitter profile.
The provisional agreement establishes that the industry increases its use of renewable energy annually by 1.6%with a goal that 42% of the hydrogen used in industry comes from renewable fuels by 2030 and 60% by 2035. However, to meet France’s requests to recognize nuclear power to achieve climate neutrality by 2050, the deal introduces the possibility for Member States to discount the contribution of renewable hydrogen in industrial use by 20% if the expected national contribution to the binding EU target is met and if the share of hydrogen from fossil fuels consumed in the country does not exceed 23% in 2030 and 20% in 2035.
With regard to transport, member states are given the possibility to choose between a 14.5% reduction in greenhouse gases in transport from the use of renewable energy by 2030 or at least 29% of share of renewable energy in final energy consumption in the transport sector by 2030.
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In addition, a binding combined sub-target of 5.5% is set for advanced biofuels and fuels such as renewable hydrogen or synthetics in the renewable energy share of the transport sector. The provisional agreement also establishes an indicative target of at least a 49% share of renewable energy in buildings by 2030, and provides for a gradual increase in renewable targets for heating and cooling, with a binding increase of 0.8% per year national level until 2026 and 1.1% from 2026 to 2030.
Finally, the text reinforces the sustainability criteria for the use of biomass for energy, in order to reduce the risk of unsustainable bioenergy production and includes accelerated authorization procedures for renewable energy projects.