June 15, 2011
Europe

EU should drop some renewable targets, Policy Exchange says

By Mathew Carr and Catherine Airlie, Bloomberg, www.bloomberg.com 15 June 2011

The European Union should abandon its renewable-energy target to cut the costs of fighting climate change, according to Policy Exchange.

“The target mandates an unnecessarily expensive route to meeting carbon-reduction goals and distorts spending in favor of rapid deployment of immature technologies,” the London-based research group said today in an e-mailed report. “EU policy should treat all low-carbon sources on an equal footing.”

The EU has a target of getting 20 percent of energy from renewable sources by 2020. Policy Exchange said in May that the plan was not the lowest-cost way for the U.K. to cut carbon by 80 percent by 2050.

EU and U.K. policy should emphasize low-carbon research, development and demonstration “rather than the deployment of chosen low-carbon technologies to meet short-term targets,”

European climate policy does little to persuade other countries, especially China and the U.S., to sign on to carbon reduction targets, Policy Exchange said.

Delegates from almost 200 countries are meeting in Bonn this week to advance negotiations on a global climate treaty to succeed the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. Discussions cover issues such as mandatory commitments to cut emissions by developed countries, voluntary actions by developing countries, and new market mechanisms to reduce carbon emissions.

The Renewable Energy Association, a London-based lobby group, said the Policy Exchange report published in May was “seriously misguided.”

URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2011/06/15/eu-should-drop-some-renewable-targets-policy-exchange-says/