By Martin Banks - 7th February 2011
Now they should make good these aspirations
Louise Hutchins
Environmental campaigners have voiced "disappointment" with the outcome of the EU summit on energy.
The one-day summit on Friday accepted that Europe is not on track to meet its target for reducing energy use by 20 per cent by 2020 but stopped short of recommending binding legislation.
EU leaders and heads of state attending the summit, the first of its kind, endorsed the goal of increasing electricity generation from low-carbon sources, as opposed to just renewable sources.
The post-summit accord said, "The EU and its member states will promote investment in renewables and safe and sustainable low carbon technologies."
EU leaders also recommitted themselves to introducing new laws they agreed in 2009 to liberalise their energy markets.
To date, only half of member states have liberalised.
Reaction to the outcome of the summit was mixed with Greenpeace, the leading environmental group, saying it was "disappointed there was no progress on binding energy efficiency targets "for now", despite common agreement that the EU is failing in its ambitions."
Its energy campaigner Louise Hutchins said, "Leaders set their sights on the right goal – a single European energy market with renewables at its heart. A European-wide power grid is essential to channel green energy from where it is produced to where it is needed.
"Now they should make good these aspirations with binding efficiency targets and much stronger action on renewables. Nuclear and fossil fuels are costly distractions to Europe's brighter energy future and should play an ever declining role."
Further comment came from Brook Riley, climate justice and energy campaigner with Friends of the Earth Europe, who said it was a "mistake" that leaders had not recommended binding legislation on meeting its 2020 energy targets.
Riley said, "The cheapest, cleanest and most secure energy is that which a country doesn’t need and the first priority should be to make the EU’s 2020 energy savings target mandatory.
"A binding target for energy savings would contribute to solving the climate crisis, reduce household bills by up to €1000 every year, and create millions of green jobs."
