The EWEA briefing tells EU decision-makers it is “disappointed that the Communication falls short of recommending an immediate unilateral EU move to a 30% reduction,” and that “for Europe to keep its first mover advantage, the EU needs to maintain its momentum in support of its most promising industries. A unilateral move to 30% GHG domestic reductions would maintain such a momentum.”
It states that “the EU has been the cradle of renewable energy innovation, particularly wind power, and the European wind industry represents a growing number of jobs (192,000), significant and growing export opportunities, as well as increased energy security and competitiveness.”
The EWEA briefing paper points out that “the benefits of moving to 30% outweigh the costs.” It adds: “the Commission Communication highlights that the cost of reaching 20% GHG reductions has reduced from €70 billion to €48 billion, due to the financial crisis. The cost of moving to 30% GHG reductions is estimated to be €81 billion, or just €11 billion more than the initial estimate to reach 20%.”
EWEA Chief Executive, Christian Kjaer, said, “the move to 30% would give a very strong signal to investors that Europe means business when it talks about green growth and a sustainable economy. The offer to go to 30% did not work in the Copenhagen climate summit but it would work in keeping the EU at the forefront of the green technology race. Europe is a world leader in wind energy but faces serious competition from China, the US, Japan, South Korea and India. I would hate to see Europe losing out because it was lulled into a false sense of security due to the failure of the climate negotiations.”
In its briefing on moving beyond the 20% target, the EWEA highlights wind energy’s role in achieving this goal. “Wind energy is already fighting climate change: in 2009, wind power in the EU avoided the emission of 106 million tonnes of carbon dioxide”, it says; estimating that in 2020, 230 GW of wind capacity would avoid the emission of 333 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 29% of the EU’s 20% greenhouse gas reduction target for 2020, or 19% of an EU target of 30%. The EWEA concludes that “a 30% reduction is achievable even without international offsets, as GHG reductions delivered by wind power are domestic EU reductions”.
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