European Union/2030 climate and energy package
Paris, January 23, 2014
Philippe Martin, Minister of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy, and Thierry Repentin, Minister Delegate for European Affairs, officially note the proposal published today by the European Commission for climate and energy policy for 2030. This 2030 climate and energy package will come after the framework in force until 2020, which envisages reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20%, reaching a 20% share of renewable energy in the EU’s energy consumption and making energy savings of 20%.
In particular, the Commission has proposed that member states make a 40% reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions by 2030. This is the target that the President insistently called for in the first environment conference in 2012, and that he has reiterated on many occasions. This target is consistent with the trajectory necessary for reducing our greenhouse gas emissions by a factor of four by 2050.
Philippe Martin and Thierry Repentin were also interested to read the European Commission’s proposal aimed at strengthening the regulation and effectiveness of the Emissions Trading System, the main instrument of the European Union’s climate policy.
Finally, Philippe Martin welcomes the desire to set out a European target for renewable energy in the European Union’s energy consumption in 2030, in accordance with the letter he wrote to the European Commission in December 2013 with his Austrian, Belgian, Danish, Irish, Italian, German and Portuguese counterparts. This target leaves to each country the responsibility to set itself a target in keeping with its ambitions and the trajectory of its energy mix.
Philippe Martin and Thierry Repentin are keen to emphasize that these ambitious commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and support the development of renewable energy are essential:
for sending a long-term signal to energy stakeholders and investors in order to get the European energy transition fully under way;
for making the EU’s commitment credible in the fight against climate change, particularly looking ahead to the international agreement which will have to be concluded in Paris in 2015.
The European Commission’s recommendations will be discussed at the European summit in Brussels on 20 and 21 March./.
