The European Commission has recently launched its latest Green Paper on “A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies” and the title itself is enough to understand the complexities of developing a successful energy policy on energy and climate.
The European Commission first launched its Energy and Climate Package by the name “20-20-20 by 2020” proposals in January 2007, and this was followed by the agreement on the green house gas reduction target including other targets inclusive of the package in March 2007. The new Green Paper adopted by the EU is very specifically written, with accurate information compiled in 10 pages.
However, even after successful planning the biggest problem that EU faces is the climate and energy policies of the 27 Member States. Different issues and solutions of the member states are becoming complex as the years pass by. Although the EU is on its way to achieve its targets planned for 2020, it still feels the need to adopt a new integrated policy for climate and energy issues for the period up to 2030. The increasing necessity of a progressive economy makes it imperative that efficient energy systems with low carbon requirements and binding international agreement on climate and mitigation be given importance.
The paper contains four major sections dedicated to –
The introduction explains the need for the Green Paper and the changes between the earlier and the latest Energy and Climate package, along with the issue of the prevalent energy crisis.
The second part consists the description of the latest EU policy design and the details of achievements including the targets such as GHG reduction, use of renewable energy resources and energy conservation and the overall safety of the energy supply.
The third section is the most important part of the paper, as it focuses on the main objective of the paper. This section includes the major targets that are to be achieved through the paper such as policy weapons, competitiveness, and differential ability of the member states to act.
The fourth section contains a short questionnaire based on the issues enlisted in the paper related to the 2020 planning, and also the current status of the EU. This is important and could be considered while deciding the stratagem for the year 2030.
It is followed by a very short section dedicated to the dates of the consultation period and an annexure consisting the list of the prevalent legislative instruments and key reference documents.
The effective use of funds from the Emission Trading System is one very important issue discussed in this Green Paper.
In a nutshell, it is must for the people interested in energy and climate policies to go through the paper in detail and give their valuable feedback regarding the same, because each and every opinion matters a lot for the successful implementation of the policy.