Europe Will Exceed 2020 Renewable Energy Target

February 28th, 2010 by Zachary Shahan

A new analysis by the European Wind Energy Association finds that the European Union (EU) is going to exceed its target of producing 20% of its energy from renewable energy sources by 2020.

The reports looked at all forms of renewable energy. It found that 13 of the 27 EU countries are set to meet their target, 8 are set to exceed it and the remaining 6 are expected to fall short.

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Bulgaria, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg and Malta are reportedly not on track to meet their targets, but none of them are expected to be more than 1% below their target.

Larger countries leading the pack, “Spain and Germany are set to top the European league tables for renewable energy, with the Spanish government announcing it is on track to generate 22.7 per cent of its power from renewables by 2020, which is almost three percentage points above its 20 per cent target.”

Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Sweden are the other countries expected to exceed their individual targets.

Christine Lins, secretary general of the European Renewable Energy Council says: “The clear majority of European Member States recognise the economic, environmental and social benefits of promoting a broad range of renewable energy technologies nationally, as reflected in their forecast documents.”

All EU countries are required to submit a National Action Plan to the European Commission with details as to how they plan to meet their individual targets by June 2010, under the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive.

Justin Wilkes, policy director of EWEA, focuses on the change in attitude and forecast since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was adopted in 2008, saying: “Europe has witnessed a sea-change since the 2009 Renewable Energy Directive was agreed as in 2008 many countries were stating that their target would be difficult to meet – now the majority are forecasting that they will meet or exceed their national target.”

Hopefully the US can at least set a renewable energy target soon.

via BusinessGreen

Image Credit: boskizzi via flickr under a CC license









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