For a boost of renewable energy in the EU: agreement on revised legislation to accelerate the climate and energy transition

The Renew Europe Group welcomes today’s agreement between the European Parliament, the Commission and the Member States on the revision of the Renewable Energy Directive (RED).

RED is one of the flagship initiatives of the Fit for 55 package to achieve the Union energy and climate targets, an energy system integration and sustainability criteria for bioenergy. The 45% (42,5% binding) of renewables target in the overall energy mix by 2030 agreed by the co-legislators is an important improvement that will cut greenhouse gas emissions and will significantly reduce dependence on fossil fuels imports, particularly relevant in the context of the current energy crisis.

The introduction of specific renewable targets for greenhouse gas intensive sectors, such as transport, or residential heating and cooling systems are amongst the main achievements of the final agreement. Likewise, thanks to the demands of Renew Europe, the re-qualification of the so-called Fuels of Non-Biological Origin as renewables (RFNBO) and their extension to industry has been achieved, which sets the path towards a decarbonised European industry without reducing its competitiveness.

Due to a strong Renew Europe negotiation, the final compromise foresees a reference to demand-flexibility measures, in addition to a specific indicative 5% target for innovative renewable energy technologies, as well as the introduction of new-climate proof technologies such as osmotic energy and solar electric vehicles. In this respect, Renew Europe has also led work to lay the solid foundations for a sustainable, leading and competitive European hydrogen market. Our political group has also been a strong advocate of easing administrative procedures and tackling permitting processes bottlenecks at both European and national level.

MEP Christophe Grudler, (Mouvement Démocrate, France), Renew Europe’s Shadow on Renewable Energy Directive, declared:

“In 2021, only 21.8 % of the energy consumed in the EU was from renewable energies. This is far from enough. This is why we defended new ambitious objectives, to accelerate our efforts in all types of renewables. I am particularly proud that our Renew Europe team defended a strong position to accelerate the permitting procedures for new installations, and introduced new technologies such as osmotic energy, solar electric cars. Now, it is time to develop these new renewable capacities, in order to match our EU climate objectives as soon as possible”.