The
agreement, hailed as a "landmark" deal and a breakthrough by
politicians and the green lobby alike, came before a crucial EU summit
opening
in Brussels tomorrow at which 27 prime ministers and presidents are
supposed to
finalise an ambitious package to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by
2020.
The
agreement reached yesterday paves the way for a law obliging all EU
countries
to meet national targets for renewable energy. Two
points had threatened to
derail the legislation: the insistence that biofuels comprise 10% of
transport
fuel by 2020, and an attempt by Italy to loosen the law by ordering a
review of
progress on renewables in 2014. The review date was retained, but the
compulsory target and national quotas also survived.
Biofuels
have become an incendiary issue over the past year because of soaring
food
costs and shortages, partly blamed on the diversion of land to grow
fuel rather
than food. Expert opinion has turned on the value of biofuels in
combating
climate change. The 10% of transport fuel target was retained, but the
equation
was changed to include electric cars and trains and the European
commission is
to report within two years on the impact on land use and sustainability
of
biofuels.
Experts
argue that using crop-based products as a petrol or diesel substitute
is
misplaced, as greater energy savings can be made by using them for
heating.
Greenpeace,
usually a fierce critic of the EU climate change policies, described
the
agreement as a "landmark".
Claude
Turmes, the Luxembourg Green MEP who led the negotiations for the
European
parliament, said he had "mixed feelings" about the biofuels factor.
"Despite
mounting scientific evidence on the dangers of biofuels, we were unable
to
completely revise this wrong-headed target ... Renewable energy will be
put at
the very heart of EU energy policies."
The
European
Wind Energy Association, a lobby group, said yesterday's deal put
Europe in the
lead of "the energy revolution the world needs". It calculated that,
if the law was properly implemented, more than a third of Europe's
electricity
would come from renewable sources by 2020.
The summit
in Brussels will turn on the broader deal to cut emissions by 20% by
2020.
Britain came under pressure yesterday to reinvest in green technology
the
millions of pounds likely to be raised from auctioning carbon emission
permits.
The
environmental consultancy WSP predicts the UK government could possibly
raise
as much as £1bn from 85m permits in 2012 and £2.5bn in
2013. Next year alone
the British government plans to auction 25m permits, raising nearly
£350m.
A
cross-party group of Lords says the funds raised through the ETS should
be
ploughed back into "climate change-related measures" to
"maintain the credibility of the scheme".
The Lords
also said that moves by some European countries to "postpone" broader
use of permit auctioning to spare industry the additional cost should
be
resisted.
•
This
article was amended on Wednesday December 10 2008. We referred to an EU
summit
taking place on Thursday December 11 as being held in Poznan, Poland;
in fact,
this will summit take place in Brussels. This has been corrected (The
Guardian).