Executive Vice-President Timmermans
Commissioner Simson
Director-General Juul-Jorgensen

 

Keep the Renewable Energy Directive for renewables – “low-carbon” fuels and non-renewable energies should not be included in any provision of the Renewable Energy Directive.

Climate change is the defining challenge of this century. And renewable energy is one of the main pillars of European climate action, resulting in more than one-third of emission reductions to date. All scenarios for the EU achieving its targets under the Paris climate agreement rely on the rapid scaling up of renewable energy.

Beyond emission reductions, investment in renewables brings many benefits: better European energy security, lower fossil fuel import bills, local job creation, better public health, economic development, and the possibility of millions of Europeans to actively participate in and benefit directly from the energy transition.

The main policy tool for promoting renewable energy is the Renewable Energy Directive. It has proven successful in driving down the price of renewable energy technologies and boosting investments in renewables across Europe. However, the current intention to broaden the scope of the Directive beyond renewables is counter-productive and risks promoting the very fossil fuels that renewables should be displacing in Europe’s energy system, as defined in the European Commission’s long-term strategy.

Non-renewable and low-carbon fuels, including so-called ‘low carbon’ fossil fuels, should not be included in any provision under the Renewable Energy Directive nor should they count towards the EU’s binding 2030 renewable energy target.

This will generate significant public confusion and undermine trust in the EU’s renewable energy policy which is key to leveraging one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy. We thank you for taking the views expressed in this letter into consideration. We would welcome a meeting to discuss these issues with you in more detail.

Yours sincerely,

Members of the European Parliament:
Alviina Alametsä
Francois Alfonsi
Rasmus Andresen
Maria Arena
Margrete Auken
Benoit Biteau
Michael Bloss
Malin Björk
Damian Boeselager
Manuel Bompard
Patrick Breyer
Saskia Bricmont
Klaus Buchner
Reinhard Bütikofer
Damien Careme
Antoni Comin i Oliveres
David Cormand
Anna Cavazzini
Ignazio Corrao
Viola von Cramon-Taubadel
Ciarán Cuffe
Jakop G. Dalunde
Rosa D’Amato
Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield
Karima Delli
Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg
Pascal Durand
Bas Eickhout
Eleonora Evi
Cornelia Ernst
Romeo Franz
Daniel Freund
Niels Fuglsang
Alexandra Geese
Sven Giegold
Sandro Gozi
Marketa Gregorova
Claude Gruffat
Diana Riba i Giner
Francisco Guerreiro
Henrike Hahn
Heidi Hautala
Martin Häusling
Pierrette Herzberger-Fofana
Martin Hojsik
Par Holmgren
Yannick Jadot
Stasys Jakeliunas
Ska Keller
Petros Kokkalis
Marcel Kolaja
Alice Kuhnke
Sergey Lagodinsky
Philippe Lamberts
Katrin Langensiepen
Sara Matthieu
Erik Marquardt
Tilly Metz
Hannah Neumann
Niklas Nienass
Ville Niinistö
Grace O’Sullivan
Jutta Paulus
Piernicola Pedicini
Mikulas Peksa
Kira Marie Peter-Hansen
Sirpa Pietikäinen
Manu Pineda
Sira Rego
Terry Reintke
Manuela Ripa
Michele Rivasi
Caroline Roose
Bronis Rope
Mounir Satouri
Nico Semsrott
Michal Simecka
Jordi Solé
Kim van Sparrentak
Tineke Strik
Marie Toussaint
Ernest Urtasun
Monika Vana
Nikolaj Villumsen
Thomas Waitz
Sarah Wiener
Salima Yenbou
Tatjana Zdanoka

Associations, companies and civil society:
Association of European Energy Research Centres (EUREC)
Bellona Europa
Bioenergy Europe
Climate Action Network Europe
Climate Bonds
Coopernico
Eco-union
Enel
Energy Cities
Environmental Coalition on Standards (ECOS)
European Environmental Bureau (EEB)
European Geothermal Energy Council (EGEC)
European Heat Pump Association (EHPA)
European Renewable Energy Federation (EREF)
European Solar Thermal Electricity Association (ESTELA)
Global Witness
Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) Europe
Iberdrola
International Network on Sustainable Energy (INFORSE)
Negative Emissions Platform
Ocean Energy Europe
Renewable Heating & Cooling Alliance
Sandbag
Solar Heat Europe
SolarPower Europe
Transport & Environment (T&E)
Turboden
Wind Europe