The EU Legal Frameworks - The Sustainability of Renewable Energy in Europe - page 4

cost-saving, GHG-reducing technologies. If an investment opportunity exists to in-
crease profit for a private power generating company, it is likely that the company
will adopt it. RES' systems are in general characterized by high capital costs, low
operation and maintenance costs, and zero fuel costs with the exception of systems
using purchased biomass, but they are still more expensive than conventional sourc-
es. Then, the package should be able to induce participation and compliance, and,
without binding objectives per member state, it might be hard to achieve the goal.
The EU had already embarked on the path of the indicative and nonbinding
expansion of RES with the 2001/77/EC Directive (European Commission 2001 ;
European Parliament 2001) on the promotion of electricity produced from RES in
the internal electricity market with the indicative target of 12 % of European gross
domestic energy consumption from RES in 2010, and the result was not encourag-
ing because the target was not reached. On the other hand, at world level, something
similar happened with the indicative target of Kyoto Protocol (a detailed description
of the Kyoto Protocol is provided in Appendix 1).
Another observation that emerges from the member countries is the consistency
of the objectives in relation to the overall EU strategies. By looking at the long term,
the road map calls for an 80 % reduction in GHG emissions compared to 1990 levels
by 2050. More complex is the assessment of the quantitative consistency since the
stages of the path to the target of 80 % GHG emission reductions are as follows.
Kyoto: 8 % in 2010; climate and energy package: 20 % in 2020; 2030 framework
for climate and energy policies: 40 % in 2030; target 2050: 80 %. The succession
of goals highlights two periods: until 2020, it requires a reduction of 10 % every
decade; after 2020, the reduction required for each decade becomes 20 %.
Beyond question, however, very important on the feasibility of the final objec-
tive (80 % GHG reduction by the year 2050) and the definition of consequential
intermediate targets, it can be said that the main target of the 2030 framework for
climate and energy policies, i.e., the reduction of emissions by 40 %, is nothing
more than a consequence of the long term. On this level, the EU demonstrates
consistency: the target for 2030 is not rhetoric but a result of a commitment already
declared.
Then, looking beyond 2020, existing and currently planned measures could
bring the EU onto a pathway to achieving long-term emission reduction objectives.
Anyway, achieving a reduction of emissions by 80 % by 2050 compared to 1990,
as agreed by European Commission, will require enhanced efforts from member
states.
The road map to achieve the objectives to 2050 indicates a gradual transition
and effective in terms of cost, as indicated by the COM 112 (European Commision
2011b ) on Roadmap for moving to a competitive low-carbon economy in 2050.
The COM 112 (European Commission 2011b ) with the White Paper on Trans-
port and the Energy Efficiency Plan is one of the key documents on the efficient use
of resources, and it illustrates the cornerstones on which actions promoted by the
EU should be based to facilitate the transition to a competitive low-carbon economy
by 2050. The road map sets out a series of steps aimed at verifying whether the EU
is on track to achieve its objective, policy challenges, the need for investment, and