In addition to a smart and inclusive growth, the European Union aims to create a sustainable growth with the Europe 2020 strategy.
In this context, the EU flagship initiative "Resource efficient Europe" is used for decoupling economic growth from resource use through the introduction of low-carbon technologies, the increased use of renewable energy sources, modernizing our transport sector and promoting energy efficiency.Climate and energy targets
With this initiative, the 20-20-20 climate and energy targets, to which the Member States have committed, shall be achieved
by 2020:
- Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 % compared to 1990
- Increase the energy efficiency by 20 %
- 20 % of total energy consumption will consist of renewable energy
Furthermore EU countries have agreed on a new 2030 Framework for climate and energy policy, setting even more ambitious climate and energy targets for the period between 2020 and 2030:
- a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions compared to 1990 levels
- at least a 27% share of renewable energy consumption
- at least 27% energy savings compared with the business-as-usual scenario
Challenges
Challenges imposed by climate change and the scarcity of natural resources require drastic measures. The European economy
is highly dependent on fossil fuels such as crude oil.
These natural resources have also been used inefficiently in recent decades, whereby price shocks for private consumers and
businesses occur regularly. In addition, the global demographic trends lead to an increasing energy consumption. All these
factors result in increased level of pollution, adding to climate change.
Roadmap
The Roadmap for moving to a competitive low carbon economy in 2050 provides a cost-effective way to address these challenges and lead to a cleaner, climate-friendly and competitive European
economy in the long run. The EU wants to achieve an overall reduction in its domestic emissions by 80 % by 2050. To achieve
this target, the EU must reduce its emissions by 40 % by 2030 and by 60 % by 2040. In order to realize this ambitious goal,
projects are funded by the EU aiming at cleaner and more energy-efficient technologies. These investments will be profitable,
since they shall lead to lower energy cost. The low-carbon economy shall also improve the air quality, reduce air quality
control and reduce costs for the health care of up to 88 billion per year.