The European Parliament will today debate and vote on its report on the Commission’s Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy by 2050. The report establishes a policy framework for the EU to achieve a 80-95% reduction in its CO2 emissions by 2050, and it is expected that MEPs will endorse it by a large majority.
Sir Graham Watson MEP, who is the Chairman of a global network of MPs and MEPs from all mainstream political parties campaigning to increase government investment in renewable energy and electricity supergrids called the Climate Parliament, as well as a Liberal Democrat MEP and President of the ELDR party.
Commenting on the section on energy infrastructure and renewable energy, Sir Graham said:
“What the European Parliament is saying in this report is that the way to integrate large amounts of renewable energy into our electricity supply is to allow for power exchanges across borders and build an interconnected European supergrid.”
“Each country does not have the variety of renewable energy sources to be able to move to 95% renewables by 2050 on its own, while still guaranteeing reliability of supply. But with an electricity supergrid that spans the continent, we do.”
“I am delighted that the Climate Parliament and other partner organisations have succeeded in making sure this is one of the key priorities on renewables and energy infrastructure.”
The report was authored by Liberal Demcrat MEP Chris Davies. Graham continued:
“We all owe Chris Davies MEP a big thank you for having put this ambitious report together.”
For any readers with an interest in energy policy, the European Liberal Democrats (ELDR) will be debating energy policy at their Congress this Autumn, due to take place in Ireland. For more information, contact the Party’s International Office.
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2 Comments
And Tory MEPs are likely to vote against it, as they did last summer.
That’s an interesting tecnical reason for integration, but it raises questions about how countries without renewable resources will pay. And that 80 to 95% is one absolutely astonishing target. Is it really feasible? What will it do to energy costs? How will it affect Europe’s competitiveness? What kind of environmental issues will the building of the supergrid itself raise? And will it save the planet?