The EU Energy and Climate Package

The issue

In March 2007 the EU’s leaders endorsed an integrated approach to climate and energy policy that aims to combat climate change and increase the EU’s energy security while strengthening its competitiveness. In response, the European Commission proposed binding legislation to implement the so-called '20-20-20 targets' in January 2008 (see Commission Website):

• A reduction in EU greenhouse gas emissions of at least 20% below 1990 levels
• 20% of EU energy consumption to come from renewable resources
• A 20% reduction in primary energy use compared with projected levels, to be achieved by improving energy efficiency.

This ‘Energy and Climate' package was agreed by the European Parliament and Council in December 2008 and became law in June 2009.

Contribution of the EC4MACS project

The EC4MACS model toolbox provided quantitative technical analyses to the proposal of the Energy and Climate Package of the European Commission. EC4MACS information derived from the PRIMES, CAPRI, GAINS and TREMOVE models has been incorporated into the impact assessment of the Commission:

• Joint impact assessment on the package of implementation measures for the EU's objectives on climate change and renewable energy for 2020 [494 KB];Annex to the Impact Assessment [0.99 MB].

Underlying information and model results are documented in the following reports produced by the EC4MACS team:

• Model-based Analysis of the 2008 EU Policy Package on Climate Change and Renewables [0.98 MB]

• Appendixes to Model-based Analysis of the 2008 EU Policy Package on Climate Change and Renewables [4.88 MB]

• Emission scenarios for non-CO2 greenhouse gases in the EU-27: Mitigation potentials and costs in 2020 [303 KB]

• Detailed information on emissions and costs of non-CO2 greenhouse gases