The escalating crisis in Ukraine has propelled European energy security to the top of agenda. EU leaders have called a comprehensive plan for reducing energy dependency. CAN Europe calls for Europe’s plan to improve energy security to be backed by three concrete actions:
- A political commitment for a strong policy and investment framework for renewable energy and energy efficiency after 2020. Thus, as a first step, Europe’s plan should make very clear the need for the EU council to agree, no later than October on a 2030 energy and climate framework that contain ambitious binding targets for renewable energy and energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission reductions.
- Earmarking and Release of funds for programmes on energy efficiency, accelerating the EU’s implementation of its 20% target in 2020, and helping with implementation of the Energy Efficiency Directive. Such funds could be sourced, for instance, from the auctioning revenues of the EU ETS and from the European Investment Bank.
- Speed up the construction of transmission and smart electricity grids that would help accelerate the penetration of renewable energy. This change could be achieved by prioritizing funds from the Connecting Europe Facility budget to those projects of common interest that have a direct impact on the integration of renewable energy sources.
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