The new target level for renewable energy is binding, which means that countries will face sanctions if they do not reach it.
Sakari Nuuttila,
Yrjö Kokkonen
The EU countries reached a significant agreement on the Union on Friday evening target level of renewable energy lifting. According to the new proposal, in 2030 the EU must produce up to 45 percent of all its energy with renewable production methods.
The previous target level was 32 percent.
An agreement was now reached on the European Commission’s updated proposal, according to which the share of renewable energy must be at least 42.5 percent, but preferably 45 percent.
The target level is binding, which means that countries face sanctions if they do not reach it. Until 2025, the share of renewable energy must increase annually in the member countries by at least 0.8 percentage points and from now on by 1.1 percentage points.
The goal is ambitious, because in 2021, around 22 percent of the EU’s total energy consumption came from renewable sources. The share of renewables therefore more than doubles in less than a decade.
Finland is already at the top of the EU
As far as Finland is concerned, reaching the EU’s common goal would require a level of renewable energy of around 60 percent, estimates the Ministry of Labor and Economic Affairs in its announcement at the end of March. However, Finland’s national goal will be specified later.
– Finland has supported ambitious renewable energy goals in the negotiations, and therefore a significant increase in the general goal is welcome, the ministry’s press release says.
Finland’s share of renewable energy was 43.1 percent in 2021, according to the Statistics Finland Eurostat of the figures. The share of renewables in Finland was therefore the second largest among EU countries, between Sweden (62.6%) and Latvia (42.1%).
Nuclear power is considered more sustainable than before
A fresh agreement on the commission’s proposal emerged after weeks of wrangling. France and Germany in particular argued about how to approach hydrogen energy, which is produced by nuclear power.
France is suitable for nuclear energy, Germany is prepared. The problem was solved in such a way that nuclear electricity is not classified as renewable, but more emphasized as sustainable than before, says the Swedish Minister of Energy Ebba Busch For the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation SVT.
Germany and Denmark in particular emphasized that the expansion of wind and solar power is a significant part of reaching the EU’s renewable energy goal.
In addition, the countries agreed on a very significant increase in the production of renewable jet fuel by 2050.
Sources: Reuters, AP
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