Greens hail EU deal on renewable energy

The three sides have reached a compromise on legislation that would see the European Union increase significantly its use of renewable energy such as wind and solar power.

The deal will establish mandatory national targets for the member states in order to achieve the target of at least 20 percent renewable energy of the total energy consumption by 2020.

"Today tomorrow changed," said Christian Kjaer, the chief executive of the European Wind Energy Association. "The European Parliament and the Council have agreed the world's most important energy law."

Greenpeace, for its part, called the result a "landmark deal" and a "ray of light."

"[It's a] sunny spell before heavy showers, as European leaders create loophole after loophole in other parts of the EU's package of laws to tackle climate change," said Frauke Thies, a campaigner with the group's Europan office.

Negotiations had been held up until today by Italy, which had been demanding that the 2020 target be subject to a review in 2014 - the sole outstanding point of disagreement.

Today, in Brussels back rooms, MEPs and France, which currently chairs the EU's six-month rotating presidency, agreed that the commission's review of the implementation of the directive, which is to take place by 2014, will not affect the overall 20 percent target but instead will serve to improve, if necessary, the efficiency of co-operation mechanisms.

The compromise defines binding national targets for 2020 in each member state for the first time.

By June 2010, the member states will have to draw up national action plans describing how they will meet their 2020 targets, which the commission will then assess.

Every two years, the states also have to report on how they are progressing along their trajectory.

Member state co-operation

Core to the agreement are largely intact proposals from the parliament's industry committee that will see greater co-operation amongst member states on achieving the target.

Specifically, EU countries will be able to run joint projects with one or other of the 27 member states on green electricity production, heating or cooling.

They will also be able to transfer renewable energy "statistically" between themselves and co-ordinate with each other's national support schemes.

The compromise also permits the counting of green electricity consumed in a member state but produced via newly constructed joint projects with countries beyond the EU.

The Green Luxembourgeois MEP responsible for shepherding the legislation through the parliament and leading the negotiations with the other European institutions, Claude Turmes, said: "With this major legislation renewable energy will be put at the very heart of EU energy policies."

The compromise must still be formally endorsed by all the member states and the full sitting of the parliament, on 11 December in Strasbourg.