{"id":907,"date":"2017-11-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/uncategorized\/907\/eu-parliament-backs-people-powered-renewables-but-aims-too-low\/"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:34:00","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:34:00","slug":"eu-parliament-backs-people-powered-renewables-but-aims-too-low","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/issues\/climate-energy\/907\/eu-parliament-backs-people-powered-renewables-but-aims-too-low\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Parliament backs people-powered renewables but aims too low"},"content":{"rendered":"

Energy committee plan would undo Spain\u2019s controversial \u2018sun tax\u2019<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe European Parliament\u2019s energy committee voted today to recognise the right of Europeans to produce and sell their own renewable electricity.
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The committee approved amendments to the EU\u2019s renewable energy rules that would make self-consumed electricity free from punitive charges, levies and taxes. This would make Spain\u2019s controversial \u2018sun tax\u2019 illegal under EU rules. The \u2018sun tax\u2019 forces Spanish solar panel owners to pay for the electricity they produce and consume themselves.<\/p>\n

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Greenpeace EU energy policy adviser Sebastian Mang<\/strong> said: \u201cThe Parliament recognises that every European should have the right to produce, consume and sell renewable energy, but it\u2019s unrealistically pessimistic when it comes to the EU\u2019s renewables target. Just like nobody would force Messi to play in the Belgian third division, playing European citizens at the front of the energy transition only makes sense if they can reach their full potential.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The energy committee also said 35 per cent of the EU\u2019s energy should come from renewables by 2030. In 2014, European governments suggested a target of 27 per cent and, in 2016, the European Commission supported this target. But the committee supported a loophole that would allow EU countries a ten per cent leeway on the proposed 35 per cent target. This could lower the mandatory share of renewables in 2030 to only 31.5 per cent.<\/p>\n

The committee also failed to support binding renewables targets for each EU country. With no binding national targets after 2020, the EU could find it harder to hold governments accountable for insufficient contributions to the overall EU target.<\/p>\n

Potential of people-powered renewables<\/strong><\/p>\n

A report by CE Delft<\/a> released by Greenpeace last year shows that, with the right support, half of all EU citizens could produce their own electricity by 2050, meeting nearly half of the EU\u2019s electricity demand. Power companies would provide the remainder of Europe\u2019s renewable electricity.<\/p>\n

To limit global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees, as agreed at the Paris climate conference in 2015, the EU must increase its renewable energy target to at least 45 per cent by 2030, and transition to a system entirely powered by renewables within a generation, warned Greenpeace.<\/p>\n

Background<\/strong><\/p>\n

The EU is currently deciding the future of its energy system through the revision of wide-ranging legislation covering renewable energy policy, fossil fuel subsidies and the design of the electricity market. The European Commission\u2019s proposals were published in November 2016, branded as the \u2018Clean energy for all Europeans\u2019<\/em> package.<\/p>\n

Aside from today\u2019s vote on the renewables directive, the Parliament\u2019s energy committee is expected to vote on the reform of electricity market rules in February 2018. The full Parliament will then vote on both files in early 2018.<\/p>\n

Energy ministers from all EU countries will meet on 18 December 2017 in Brussels to come to a preliminary Council agreement on the planned reforms, in preparation for negotiations with the Parliament in the spring and summer of 2018.<\/p>\n

Contacts:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sebastian Mang – Greenpeace EU energy policy adviser: <\/strong>+32 (0)479 601289, sebastian.mang@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace EU press desk<\/strong>:+32 (0)2 274 1911, pressdesk.eu@greenpeace.org<\/a><\/p>\n

For breaking news and comment on EU affairs: www.twitter.com\/GreenpeaceEU<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning organisation that acts to change attitudes and behaviour, to protect and conserve the environment and to promote peace. Greenpeace does not accept donations from governments, the EU, businesses or political parties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Energy committee plan would undo Spain\u2019s controversial \u2018sun tax\u2019 The European Parliament\u2019s energy committee voted today to recognise the right of Europeans to produce and sell their own renewable electricity.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":909,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[37,49],"p4-page-type":[14],"class_list":["post-907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-energy","tag-renewables","tag-peoplepower","p4-page-type-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2333,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907\/revisions\/2333"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eu-unit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}