European Parliament votes for a 35 per cent renewable energy target

The members of the European Parliament have agreed on a proposal by the European Energy Council and the European Commission to increase the renewable energy target to 35 per cent from the current 27 per cent by 2030. To this end, Parliament voted for member states to submit national energy and climate action plans outlining the roadmap to contribute to the collective European target by June 1, 2019. The proposal aims to help implement the European Union’s (EU) climate goals of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 per cent below the 1990 levels by 2030, in the wake of the Paris Agreement. In addition, the EU has backed its member states for providing five-year visibility on their public support for renewables. To develop a plan for achieving this 8 percentage point increase in targets, Europe’s Parliament, commission and energy council will begin three-way negotiations in the coming months. Parliament has also agreed on banning palm oil, imported from Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia, in the draft rules on motor fuels from 2021.