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EU wants Germany to double clean energy output: report
Frankfurt (AFP) Jan 16, 2008 The European Commission wants Germany to double the percentage of renewable energy in its overall consumption to 18 percent by 2020, a press report said, quoting EU diplomatic sources. The European Union's executive branch wants France to raise its share of energy produced by solar, wind and other clean power generating methods to 23 percent over the next 12 years, the daily Handelsblatt said. A current German figure of nine percent was provided by the German Renewable Energy Federation (BEE). The report said Brussels had set even more ambitious targets for Sweden, which would be asked to get 50 percent of its energy from non-polluting sources, and Austria, which would be given a target of 34 percent. The Commission was expected to formally approve the levels on January 23 during the presentation of a broad plan to fight global warming that has led to intense negotiations with EU member states. Overall, the 27-member EU has committed itself to reducing greenhouse emissions by 20 percent, but individual targets have faced stiff opposition, from France in particular. French President Nicolas Sarkozy has asked Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso to accept that the level of carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 be set "according to the starting level" of each country rather than according to its gross domestic product (GDP). German deputy economic affairs minister Joachim Wuermeling told Handelsblatt however that "these ambitious targets correspond to those of the government" led by Chancellor Angela Merkel. The targets, which use 2005 emissions levels as a baseline, were calculated according to per capita GDP and call for "solidarity" within the EU. One draft suggested new EU member countries could actually increase their emissions levels as they caught up economically with the rest of the union, while the richest countries would be asked to make bigger cuts. Related Links Powering The World in the 21st Century at Energy-Daily.com
EU threatens 50,000 jobs with CO2 plan: German steelmakers
Berlin (AFP) Jan 16, 2008The German steel industry warned Thursday of huge job losses if the European Commission went ahead with a new emissions trading scheme in its climate protection drive. |
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