Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources

The proposed Directive lays down the principles according to which Member States need to ensure that the share of renewable energy in the EU final energy consumption reaches at least 20% by 2020, and establishes national overall targets for each Member State. Three sectors are concerned in renewable energy: electricity, heating and cooling and transport.

The overall approach is for Member States to retain discretion as to the mix of these sectors in reaching their national target. However, it is proposed that each Member State shall achieve at least a 10% share of renewable energy (primarily biofuels) in the transport sector by 2020. This is done for the following reasons:

(1) the transport sector is the sector presenting the most rapid increase in greenhouse gas emissions of all sectors of the economy;

(2) biofuels tackle the oil dependence of the transport sector, which is one of the most serious problems of in security of energy supply that the EU faces;

(3) biofuels are currently more expensive to produce than other forms of renewable energy, which suggest that their development would not proceed without specific requirements.

Specifically for biofuels and other bioliquids, the Directive sets up a system to guarantee the environmental sustainability of the policy, ensuring inter alia that the biofuels counting towards the targets achieve a minimum level of greenhouse gas savings.

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