The 27-nation European Union reached a unanimous agreement on the climate-energy package at its Dec. 11-12 summit. The agreement means member states must fulfill the “three 20s” target: By 2020 each country must bring down its greenhouse gas emissions by 20% from its 1990 level, bring the share of renewables in the energy mix to 20% from the current 8%, and achieve energy savings of 20%.
Since the targets were set in early 2008, the more recent financial crises have given several countries second thoughts that the free allowances of the Carbon Dioxide Emissions Trading Scheme, which are to become payable from 2013, would strain them too much.
The agreement is expected to bolster Europe’s position at the Copenhagen climate conference scheduled at yearend 2009.
