Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1 Introduction
This chapter aims to analyse the main energy and environmental policies at
European level, and the way in which these policies are interlinked. It also looks at
the targets set and the regulatory instruments in place to attain them. The idea is to
draw conclusions that may be of assistance in improving energy policy going
forward. This is particularly important in the current scenario, in which the EU is
reviewing the framework of targets and instruments for its long-term energy policy.
This review commenced at the time of the launch of the Green Paper
“
A 2030
framework for climate and energy policies
, in which the European Commission
asks stakeholders questions in order to gather their opinions and future proposals on
the European energy model, and continued with the Communication adopted on 22
January 2014 and presented in Brussels by the Commission President jointly with
the European Commissioners for Climate Action and for Energy.
Energy policy may be de
”
ned as the set of goals, targets and tools that determine
the role to be played by energy in society. In this policy framework, regulatory
instruments are the tools de
ned by the regulator with a view to effectively reaching
the targets set. In recent years, the regulatory framework for energy and environ-
mental affairs in Europe has been de
ned by what are referred to as the 20
20
20
-
-
targets, to be attained by the year 2020, as follows:
1
A 20 % reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from 1990 levels.
Raising the share of
nal energy consumption supplied by renewable resources
to 20 %; including raising the use of renewable energies in the transport sector
to 10 %.
20 % improvement in primary energy consumption compared to the baseline
scenario, via energy ef
ciency.
In order to achieve these goals, on the one hand various European Directives
have been passed
2
, and on the other the Member States have developed regulatory
instruments at internal level and to transpose the relevant EU Directives.
As regards instruments aimed at reducing emissions, our analysis needs to
differentiate between two main groups:
rst the industrial and energy sectors subject
to the European Emission Trading System (EU ETS), which sets a cap on emissions
in Europe and lays out a roadmap for meeting those targets by 2020; and then what
are referred to as the
“
diffuse sectors
”
(transport, R&D&I, etc.). In the latter case,
1
On 22 January 2014, the European Commission presented a new framework of goals for 2030 at
EU level: a 40 % reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and a 27 % share of EU
energy consumption for renewable energy.
2
The Emissions Trading Directive [
5
] (2003/87/EC), as amended by Directive [
6
] 2009/29/EC,
the Directive on the Promotion of the Use of Energy from Renewable Sources (2009) (2009/28/
EC) and the recently passed Energy Ef
ciency Directive [
7
] (2012/27/EU).
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