EU agreement to double share of renewables by 2030

The approved text enshrines biomass (wood burned to produce energy) as green energy, to the chagrin of environmental NGOs concerned about the impact on forests, and takes into account the role of nuclear power in producing carbon-free hydrogen - a subject that has sharply divided the Twenty-Seven.

The agreement, reached at dawn after fifteen hours of final talks, sets the binding target of 42.5% of renewables in European consumption by 2030, a near doubling of the current level of about 22% (19% in France).

This target is halfway between the 45% demanded by the European Commission and MEPs, and the 40% demanded by the States. This is a significant increase from the current EU target for 2030 (32%).

-Simplified procedures-

The text simplifies and accelerates the authorization procedures for renewable energy infrastructure, with the establishment of dedicated territories where regulations will be drastically relaxed.

The deployment of renewables will be presumed to be of "overriding public interest", restricting the grounds for legal objections to installations.

The EU provides for 49% renewables in the energy consumption of buildings, with a progressive and binding greening trajectory for heating and cooling via specific national targets.

Wind turbines in Villar de los Navarros, in the region of Zaragoza, Spain on April 5, 2022 © CESAR MANSO / AFP

In transport, by 2030 States will either have to reduce greenhouse gas intensity by 14.5% through the use of renewables, or reach at least 29% of renewables in the final energy consumption of the sector.

The agreement sets a binding sub-target of 5.5% for "advanced biofuels" (derived from non-food feedstocks) and "renewable fuels of non-biological origin" (renewable hydrogen, synthetic hydrogen fuels) in transport renewables.

- 'Specific status' of nuclear power -

The industry's use of renewables will have to increase by 1.6% per year. In each country, the share of renewable hydrogen in hydrogen used by industry will have to reach 42% by 2030 and 60% by 2035.

However, the Swedish presidency of the EU, which was negotiating on behalf of the states, managed to relax the objective for countries with a large nuclear fleet, able to produce carbon-free hydrogen thanks to the civil atom.

The issue tore the Twenty-Seven apart: the France and its allies demanded equal treatment between renewable hydrogen and "low-carbon" -- a red line for several countries (Germany, Austria, Luxembourg, Spain ...), which refused to encourage nuclear power in a text devoted to green energies at the risk, according to them, of slowing down investment in renewables.

Finally, the agreement reached provides that the 2030 renewable hydrogen target can be reduced by 20% for Member States where the share of fossil hydrogen in the country's consumption will be less than 23%.

MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew, liberals), chair of the Environment Parliament's committee, in Brussels on 21 April 2021 © Kenzo TRIBOUILLARD / AFP/Archives

"The France will not be obliged to build renewable energy to make hydrogen for industry and transport but will also be able to use nuclear power (to meet the target). It was an absolute condition for the France to support the final agreement," said French MEP Pascal Canfin (Renew, Liberals), chair of Parliament's Environment Committee.

However, the text recognizes nuclear power "a specific status, neither green nor fossil", he insisted. Enough to reinforce the States refusing an equivalence between atom and green energies.

-Biomass-

The agreement maintains the "renewable" status of bionergy, but "strengthens the sustainability criteria for the use of biomass" (wood that is burned), whose sources are prioritized "according to their economic and environmental added value".

For MEP Markus Pieper (EPP, right), the text enshrines a "100% green" biomass. "Its use is better regulated even if Parliament wanted to go further," tempers Mr. Canfin.

Fiercely defended by Scandinavian countries, the practice is denounced by environmental NGOs, concerned about the impact on forests as carbon sinks and biodiversity refuges.

"Energy production is by far the first use of wood in Europe, more than half of the wood harvest burned, a proportion that continues to increase," said Martin Pigeon of the NGO Fern, castigating a law that "will continue to reward energy companies burning millions of trees".

© 2023 AFP