In Europe, the Council and European Parliament negotiators have reached a provisional political agreement to raise the share of renewable energy in the EU’s overall energy consumption to 42.5 percent by 2030 with an additional 2.5 percent indicative top-up that would allow reaching 45 percent. Each Member State will contribute to this common target.
An error occurred
On your profile you can see what subscriptions you have access to and more information.
Is some of the information wrong – please contact our customer service.
Please reload the page
Do you want to read the whole article?
- Six editions per year
- Full access to all digital content
- The E-magazine Bioenergy international
- And more ...
The Council and Parliament negotiators have provisionally agreed on “more ambitious” sector-specific targets in transport, industry, buildings, and district heating and cooling.
The text agreed on March 30, 2023, with the Swedish Presidency aims to boost the deployment of renewable energy, in line with the European Green Deal and REPowerEU plans.
The current Renewable Energy Directive (REDII) in force since 2018, sets an EU-level target of 32 percent share of renewable energy in the total EU energy consumption by 2030 at the EU level.
The proposal to revise the RED, along with other proposals, tackles the energy aspects of the EU’s climate transition under the ‘Fit for 55’ package first presented by the European Commission in July 2021.
The provisional political agreement reached with REDIII will first be submitted to the EU Member States’ representatives in the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the Council and then to the Parliament for approval.
The Directive will then need to be formally adopted by the Parliament and then the Council, before being published in the EU’s Official Journal and entering into force.
The purpose of the sub-targets is to speed up the integration of renewables in sectors where incorporation has been slower.
Transport
The provisional agreement gives the possibility for Member States to choose between:
- a binding target of a 14.5 percent reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity in transport from the use of renewables by 2030; or
- a binding target of at least 29 percent share of renewables within the final consumption of energy in the transport sector by 2030.
The provisional REDIII agreement sets a binding combined sub-target of 5.5 percent for advanced biofuels, generally derived from non-food-based feedstocks, and renewable fuels of non-biological origin (RFNBO), mostly renewable hydrogen and hydrogen-based synthetic fuels, in the share of renewable energies supplied to the transport sector.
Within this target, there is a minimum requirement of 1 percent of RFNBOs in the share of renewable energies supplied to the transport sector in 2030.
Industry
The provisional agreement provides that industry would increase its use of renewable energy annually by 1.6 percent. They agreed that 42 percent of the hydrogen used in industry should come from RFNBOs by 2030 and 60 percent by 2035.
The agreement introduces the possibility for member states to discount the contribution of RFNBOs in industry use by 20 percent under two conditions:
- if the Member States’ national contribution to the binding overall EU target meets their expected contribution;
- the share of hydrogen from fossil fuels consumed in the Member State is not more than 23 percent in 2030 and 20 percent in 2035
Buildings, heating, and cooling
The provisional agreement sets an indicative target of at least a 49% renewable energy share in buildings in 2030.
It provides for a gradual increase in renewable targets for heating and cooling, with a binding increase of 0.8 percent per year at the national level until 2026 and 1.1 percent from 2026 to 2030.
The minimum annual average rate applicable to all Member States is complemented with additional indicative increases calculated specifically for each Member State.
Bioenergy – the provisional REDIII agreement strengthens the sustainability criteria for biomass use for energy, in order to reduce the risk of unsustainable bioenergy production. It ensures the application of the cascading principle, with a focus on support schemes and with “due regard” to national specificities.
Faster permits for projects
The provisional agreement includes accelerated permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.
The purpose is to fast-track the deployment of renewable energies in the context of the EU’s REPowerEU plan to become independent from Russian fossil fuels, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Member states will design renewables acceleration areas where renewable energy projects would undergo a simplified and fast permit-granting process.
Renewable energy deployment will also be presumed to be of ‘overriding public interest’, which would limit the grounds for legal objections to new installations.
I am glad that we have succeeded. The Council has largely supported our ambitious goals. This is how the energy transition can succeed. This Renewable Energy Directive is a great success. It brings more renewable energy, more climate protection, and a simpler and therefore faster expansion of renewable energies in Europe. This will bring us closer to the Paris climate targets and reduce our dependence on others, commented Markus Pieper (EPP, DE), lead MEP for the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE).
