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UPDATING THE EU’S ENERGY AND CLIMATE POLICY. THE NEW 2030 FRAMEWORK AND ITS IMPLICATIONS
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assumed the role of steering the climate policy
side of things in a certain direction, it continued
to leave the implementation of measures in the
area of renewable support mechanisms up to
the Member States. The Renewables Directive
sets national targets to be reached by 2020
without deciding on the mechanisms to achieve
them. The individual Member States’ targets
were determined on the basis of the respective
stage of development of their renewable energy
sector in 2005 and their economic performance
at the time. As a consequence, the targets
ranged from 10% for Malta to 49% for Sweden.
The targets of individual Member States have
been set as a percentage of their final energy
consumption. Member States can decide for
themselves which exact percentage of renewa-
ble energy sources to strive for in their electric-
ity, heating/cooling, and transportation sectors,
as long as the overall target is fulfilled. The
transportation sector is the only sector to have
been assigned a specific minimum target of
10% by 2020 that must be achieved by all
Member States.
Member States must provide the Commission
with annual reports on the state of develop-
ment and any political measures that have been
or are being carried out in the renewable energy
sector. The first round of national action plans
for the year 2011 painted a very positive pic-
ture. With the exception of only a few Member
States, the goals were considered likely to be
achieved (European Commission, 2011a and
2012b). Since the summer of 2012, however,
signs have demonstrated that these positive
prognoses can no longer be kept (cf. Fischer/
Westphal, 2012). The latest progress report in
March 2013 confirmed a more doubtful out-
look (c.f. European Commission 2013b). This
has mostly been due to two independent devel-
opments:
1) In the transportation sector, which accounts
for roughly one third of energy consumption
in the EU, biofuels were supposed to make a
major contribution to achieving the renew-
able energy goal. The sub-target of deriving
10% of the energy used in the transport sec-
tor from renewable energy sources was
meant to create a Europe-wide market for
biofuels, while at the same time promoting
the development of new technologies, such
as electrically powered cars or second-gener-
ation biofuels that no longer pose a threat to
food production. Even before the directive
was passed in 2009, critical voices were
raised, advising against political support
measures in favor of biofuels and question-
ing the sustainability of this development.
Meanwhile, the (sometimes exaggerated)
“food vs. fuel” conflict, i.e. the competition
between fuel and food production, had a
disastrous effect on the reputation of the
biofuel industry. If the 10% goal in the trans-
port sector is abandoned, the overall objec-
tive of raising the share of renewables to
20% as a percentage of final energy con-
sumption would be jeopardized as well.
2) In the course of the global financial, eco-
nomic, and debt crisis, many Member States
have significantly cut the amount of finan-
cial support used to promote the spread of
renewable energies. Particularly in the crisis-
torn nations of Spain, Portugal and Greece,
renewable energy subsidies have fallen vic-
tim to fiscal consolidation. In addition, a
number of Central and Eastern European
states have curtailed their renewable energy
support schemes. In this context, some of
these cuts were implemented retroactively,
thus not only reducing funds for future pro-
jects, but also cutting promised support for
facilities that have already been installed,