EU Aims for Binding 20% Target for Renewable Energy

EU nations could agree a binding target of producing 20% of their energy from renewable sources by 2020, according to a draft final statement from a summit in Brussels released today.

The statement, drawn up by Germany, the current holder of the EU presidency, and still to be agreed by EU leaders, attempts to placate dissenting voices by offering flexibility on how individual states would contribute to the overall goal.

The deal follows a separate agreement reached yesterday by the leaders of the 27 EU nations to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions in the bloc by 20% by 2020, a proportion to be increased to 30% if other nations follow suit.

Renewable energy sources currently account for less than 7% of EU energy use.

Negotiations to agree the final draft were being led today by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who wants the EU to be at the forefront of global efforts to tackle climate change.

"This text really gives European Union [energy] policies a new quality and will establish us as a world pioneer," Ms Merkel told reporters today.

"Once this is agreed this will indeed inject a truly new quality to this particular area of the EU and will establish our position in the vanguard of energy policy worldwide."

Ms Merkel hopes that the EU example will see other major polluters, such as the US and China, agree to emissions cuts. She plans to present her plans to a summit of the Group of Eight industrialised nations that she will host in June.

The final draft - described by Jose Manuel Barroso, the president of the European commission, as "the most ambitious package ever agreed by any institution on energy security and climate change" - includes a commitment to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% from 1990 levels by 2020.

By the same date the EU also wants 10% of its cars and trucks to run on biofuels, and to ensure 20% of its power comes from renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power and hydroelectricity.

It is the latter measure which has caused the most disagreement, with some eastern European nations who joined the bloc in 2004 arguing that they do not have the money to end their reliance on oil and coal.

Some of these less warm, landlocked countries also argue that they are handicapped in developing wind, solar and water-based power sources compared to nations such as Denmark and Spain.

Meanwhile France - which gets 80% of its power from nuclear power plants - has joined the Czechs, Bulgarians and Slovaks in arguing that nuclear power should be included in Europe's plans to switch to a low-carbon economy.

The final draft attempts to find a compromise agreeable to all, setting an overall 20% target for renewable energies for the EU as a whole but allowing individual targets for each of the 27 members.

"A differentiated approach to the contributions of the member states is needed, reflecting fairness [and] taking into account national circumstances," the draft says. It tasks the EU's executive commission with establishing national targets for each country.

It promises energy solidarity between EU nations in the event of a supply crisis, as demanded by Poland.

The draft deal also says it is up to each member whether to use nuclear power, and notes a report that says nuclear energy could help reduce CO2 admissions and alleviate worries about energy supply security.

Ms Merkel says that nuclear power does not constitute a renewable energy, but has conceded that it may be considered as part of an overall carbon reduction plan.

Austria, Ireland and Denmark did not want the EU to sanction nuclear power, and the German government is split over whether to develop atomic energy.