Renew On Line (UK) 28

Extracts from the Sept-Oct 2000 edition of Renew
These extracts only represent about 25% of it

6. Euro Greens want more

The EU Commission recently proposed higher targets for renewable energy (see Renew 126) and although this was seen as a step in the right direction, the euro green lobby felt it was not yet solid enough.

The Green/EFA Group in the European Parliament welcomed the European Commission's adoption of a draft directive designed to increase the proportion of electricity generated from renewable energies. "This is a long overdue step in the right direction," said Claude Turmes, Green Member of the Parliament's Industry, Trade, Research & Energy Committee and rapporteur of the recent EP's report on renewables. "Now the Commission, European Parliament but also NGOs and members of national parliaments have to work on those governments which may be reluctant to accept ambitious national targets. There is also a certain risk in the Commission's approach, because it focuses too heavily on competition rather than on the environmental aspects of renewables, while completely ignoring anti-competitive state subsidies to other energy forms like nuclear or coal," Turmes continued.

"The Greens/EFA call upon the EU governments to set an example in favour of renewable energies and to buy these environmentally friendly produced energies for their own consumption. 'Green' procurement policies followed by the administration in the EU member states could give a much needed boost to renewable energies, as governments account for more than 10% of domestic electricity consumption," said Alexander de Roo, Vice-President of the Environment Committee.

"Also on the EU-level, additional measures are needed to promote renewable energies. The EU should create specific programmes to stimulate the use of wind energy, photovoltaic energy and biomass," de Roo proposed. "The EU member states should make sure that their use of renewable energies is more than a mere exercise in window dressing," said de Roo."That's why the Greens/EFA strongly oppose the practice that waste burning is counted as a renewable energy."

EUFORES also wants more

MEPs from the European Parliament and national assemblies have called for further measures to boost the role of renewables in European energy supply, following a recent EUFORES conference held in Madeira, Portugal.

In the Madeira statement, the MEPs welcomed the new draft directive on renewables promotion but called on governments to agree a clearer treaty commitment for promotion of renewable energy and expressed concern over EU guidelines on state aids for environmental protection.

Organised by the European Forum for Renewable Energy Sources (Eufores) and the Madeira environment and energy agency (Aream), the meeting also ended with a call for national parliaments to hold an inter-parliamentary colloquium on energy policy, and for the EU to come up with a clear strategy on helping accession countries to achieve sustainable energy use. Eufores promotes achievement of 15% of EU primary energy from renewable sources by 2010, compared with the official target of 12%.

Follow-up: Eufores http://www.eufores.org , tel: +34 91

... and France will try

For its part the French government, now holding the EU presidency, seems keen to press ahead with the new EC Renewables directive. French prime minister Lionel Jospin said that he was "resolute" that the directive would be successfully negotiated during France's presidency, i.e. before the end of the year. However, according to ENDS Daily, several member states had raised concerns over the indicative targets for renewable electricity generation suggested by the Commission. So, sadly, the EU may yet not be able to reach agreement before the COP-6 climate change negotiations in the Hague in November.