EURELECTRIC paper maps out road towards 2050

EURELECTRIC calls on the EU to adopt a more coherent approach to energy policy. Responding to the European Commission's Energy Roadmap 2050, its new paper reaffirms the European power sector's commitment to carbon-neutrality by 2050, but recommends a 'holistic system approach' to ensure that the power industry can deliver on the transformation required.

"The roadmap's European approach is welcome, and we need to make sure that it tackles the transformation of the energy landscape in the most cost-efficient way. This means strengthening energy markets and market mechanisms such as the EU ETS, and favouring coherent and integrated policy instruments over a multitude of overlapping targets. In line with the advisory group to the Energy Roadmap, EURELECTRIC thus pleads for a functioning overall framework, not a host of potentially conflicting targets," EURELECTRIC Secretary General Hans ten Berge said."

The EURELECTRIC paper makes five recommendations for the EU's energy policy going forward:

• Support markets and market-based instruments, which will ensure a cost-effective transition to a low-carbon economy;
• Go for the EU Emissions Trading Scheme as the key driver of decarbonisation;
• Strengthen investments and cost-effectiveness through a transparent and predictable regulatory framework;
• Develop a system approach to the energy transformation, including a coherent expansion of grids and generation, a level playing field for all low-carbon technologies, and a market framework;
• Find a global answer to the global challenge of climate change.

The paper was presented at a EURELECTRIC workshop on the Energy Roadmap 2050 in Brussels today and can be downloaded here.