Moving from 20 to 30% emissions reduction by 2020?

The report argues that the EU's current Climate and Energy Package is insufficient to reach its 2050 goal of 80-95% emissions reduction at a reasonable cost. It suggests that moving to a 30% reduction target by 2020, combined with proactive investment policies in the building and transport sectors and a more predictable carbon price signal via the ETS, would reduce long-term costs and prevent the EU from losing market share in low-carbon technologies to competitors like China and South Korea.

• The current Climate and Energy Package (CEP) is considered too weak, creating significant risks that the EU's 2050 target of 80-95% emissions reduction cannot be achieved at acceptable costs.
• Moving to a 30% emissions reduction target by 2020 is projected to result in long-term economic gains, with a GDP growth differential of nearly 1% per year during the 2040–2050 decade compared to the 20% scenario.
• Carbon pricing alone is insufficient for the building and transport sectors due to their inherent inertia; proactive investment policies are required to avoid high-carbon infrastructure lock-in and lower the costs of reaching the 2050 target.
• The EU risks losing its leadership in low-carbon technologies to China and South Korea; specifically, China is projected to overtake the EU in installed renewable energy capacity before 2020 if the EU does not increase its investment growth rate.
• To provide a credible long-term signal for investors in technologies like Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) and electric vehicles, the EU must tighten the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) cap in 2020 and establish a 2030 ETS target.
• Increasing the 2020 target to 30% could improve energy security and reduce the fossil fuel energy bill by between 58.2 and 70.2 billion euros, depending on oil price forecasts.

APA

GUERIN, E. (2011). Moving from 20 to 30% emissions reduction by 2020? Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-eu-2020-target-policies.pdf

Chicago

GUERIN, Emmanuel. Moving from 20 to 30% emissions reduction by 2020? Climate Strategies, 2011. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-eu-2020-target-policies.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=GUERIN |first1=Emmanuel |title=Moving from 20 to 30% emissions reduction by 2020? |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=March 2011 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-eu-2020-target-policies.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{guerin2011moving, author = {GUERIN, Emmanuel}, title = {{Moving from 20 to 30\% emissions reduction by 2020?}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2011}, month = mar, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-eu-2020-target-policies.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }