Consistency of policy instruments

The report analyzes how the EU can move to a 30% greenhouse gas reduction target by 2020. It finds that full implementation of existing renewable energy and energy efficiency targets could lead to a domestic reduction of approximately 30%, though current policy instruments for energy efficiency are insufficient. The report also examines the role of offsets and LULUCF accounting, noting that these could reduce the required domestic effort to approximately 20% while still nominally meeting a 30% target. It concludes that the EU ETS cap would need significant adjustment—potentially to 29-43% below 2005 levels—to remain consistent with these targets.

• Full implementation of the EU's renewable energy and energy efficiency targets could result in a domestic greenhouse gas emission reduction of approximately 30% by 2020, and up to 32% if additional reductions are achieved in non-energy sectors.
• Current policy instruments for energy efficiency are not sufficient to meet the EU's energy efficiency target, despite the existence of significant cost-effective mitigation potential.
• To be consistent with the energy efficiency and renewable targets, the EU ETS cap would need to be set between 29% and 43% below 2005 emission levels by 2020.
• The use of offsets and LULUCF accounting can significantly lower the required domestic effort; with maximum offsets and likely LULUCF rules, a nominal 30% target could be met with domestic emissions only 20% to 22% below 1990 levels.
• Offsets could contribute up to 4% of 1990 emissions for a 20% target and up to 9% for a 30% target, while LULUCF accounting could contribute approximately 2% for the 30% target, though this varies from 0% to 9% depending on the rules.
• A domestic emission reduction of 25% to 30% by 2020 is considered conducive to the long-term goal of achieving an 80% to 95% reduction by 2050.
• In a least-cost scenario for a 30% domestic reduction, only 38% of the reductions in the ETS sector must be achieved by the industry directly; 26% come from electricity demand efficiency and 36% from renewable energy.

APA

Höhne, N., Hagemann, M., Moltmann, S., & Escalante, D. (2011). Consistency of policy instruments. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-ecofys-consistency-eu-beyond20-2011-04-13.pdf

Chicago

Höhne, Niklas, Markus Hagemann, Sara Moltmann, and Donovan Escalante. Consistency of policy instruments. Climate Strategies, 2011. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-ecofys-consistency-eu-beyond20-2011-04-13.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Höhne |first1=Niklas |last2=Hagemann |first2=Markus |last3=Moltmann |first3=Sara |last4=Escalante |first4=Donovan |title=Consistency of policy instruments |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=13 April 2011 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-ecofys-consistency-eu-beyond20-2011-04-13.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{hhne2011consistency, author = {Höhne, Niklas and Hagemann, Markus and Moltmann, Sara and Escalante, Donovan}, title = {{Consistency of policy instruments}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2011}, month = apr, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-ecofys-consistency-eu-beyond20-2011-04-13.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }