EU Member States differ over whether to make the target of cutting energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2020 binding, EU officials working on a major climate meeting later this year said today.
The European Parliament approved a binding commitment last year to cut EU greenhouse gas emissions to 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and the European Commission said today it wanted targets for energy efficiency improvements also to be made mandatory.
EU energy commissioner Andris Piebalgs told a news conference at an energy and environment meeting in this Swedish mountain resort he thought there was fresh political will among member states to make the targets binding.
"I really consider seriously proposing binding target instruments, but what I would like to avoid is burden sharing target instruments," he said.
Some EU members -- already struggling to meet strict targets on CO2 emissions -- are doubtful about making targets binding.
"It is not clear whether we should have a binding target or not," said Maud Olofsson, enterprise and energy minister of Sweden, which took over the 6-month EU presidency this month.
"We have discussed it and I think there are some problems with a binding target. One is, how can we measure it? What is the system for measuring it and follow-up if we have a binding target?"
Energy and environment chiefs from the 27-nation bloc are meeting for three days of discussions on energy efficiency ahead of an international meeting in Copenhagen later this year at which they hope to agree a successor to the Kyoto Protocol.
Mr Piebalgs told Reuters some delegations found a 20 per cent binding reduction excessive while others were more enthusiastic.
"We have to wait for the energy action plan. This plan will be discussed and then we will come with a physical instrument," he said, adding that EU states could have a proposal on the table during the second half of next year.
"We can't do it before Copenhagen."
German deputy energy minister Jochen Homann told Reuters he had doubts about whether binding targets were necessary.
"I am sceptical if one needs always binding targets," he said. "We already have plenty of them. It is more important to ensure a reasonable implementation and to take the right measures to achieve the target than quarrelling about the binding nature of a target."
Claudio Scajola, Italy's minister of economic development, said he had confirmed to Sweden his country's support for EU energy efficiency objectives but felt there was a need for some flexibility.
"We need a framework, but we also need flexibility in order to reach these objectives, given the differences between the countries," he said.
Reuters