Europe eyes higher 45% renewables target for 2030 after Russia

The European Commission is reportedly assessing the possibility of raising the European Union’s renewable energy target for 2030 to 45%, instead of the current target of 32%.

Reuters, quoted Mechthild Woersdoerfer, the deputy director-general of the Commission’s energy department, telling EU lawmakers that the EC is working on the proposal “at full speed”, particularly in the context of higher energy prices sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The European Commission, which is the executive branch of the European Union, has been eyeing an increased renewable energy target for 2030 for some time now – a steppingstone on its ultimate goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050.

In the middle of 2021, the Commission proposed increasing its target for renewables in the Union’s final energy demand to 40% – from 32 per cent – as part of a revision to its Renewable Energy Directive.

However, critics and environmental campaigners have been calling for greater ambition from the European Union, with organisations such as Greenpeace calling for a 2030 target of at least 45%.

The Commission has also promised plans to increase its greenhouse gas emissions target from 40% to 55% by 2030, which has driven calls from European lawmakers to revise the Union’s renewable energy target – from its currently legislated 32% by 2030.

Renewed calls for an increase in the Union’s renewable energy ambitions is unsurprising considering Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has forced a number of European countries to re-evaluate their relationship with Russia, and their dependence on Russian gas.

Increasing the renewable energy target will necessitate a lot of work from across the EU.

In 2020, only 22% of the Union’s gross final energy consumption came from renewables – though this varies wildly across the Member States, ranging from 50% renewables in Sweden to only 10% in Luxembourg.

A revision to the Commission’s renewable target will need to be approved by the European Parliament, which is currently in the process of negotiating the target as part of a major package of climate change laws designed to cut EU emissions fast.

The proposed 45% renewable goal already has major support from the EU assembly’s lead negotiator, along with renewable industry groups such as SolarPower Europe.

However, while legislated targets are one thing, industry groups have also called on the Union to remove the numerous permitting hurdles causing massive delays in approval for proposed renewable energy projects.

To reach the proposed 45% renewable energy target, the Commission is estimating that it would need to triple its wind and solar capacity by the end of the decade, adding 480GW worth of wind capacity and 420GW worth of solar.

Analysis of the proposed target revision and increased renewable energy capacity concludes that the European Union could save 170 billion cubic metres (bcm) of annual natural gas demand.

The European Commission will publish a plan next month to completely divest itself from Russian fossil fuels by 2027, which Woersdoerfer explained would include a legal proposal to make it easier for renewable energy projects to receive the necessary permits.