Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package

The report assesses the EU's Climate and Energy Package, concluding that the 20% emissions reduction target by 2020 is insufficient to reach the 2050 goal of 80% reduction without incurring extreme economic costs in later decades. It recommends increasing the 2020 target to 30%, establishing a stringent 2030 EU ETS cap of 45-50% reduction, and shifting energy efficiency focus toward absolute energy savings in buildings and transport. The authors argue that these measures would reduce oil and gas dependency, foster the Low Carbon and Environmental Goods and Services (LCEGS) market, and prevent high-carbon infrastructure lock-in.

• The current EU CEP is insufficient to meet the long-term goal of 80% emissions reduction by 2050 at an acceptable cost; relying on a 20% reduction by 2020 would lead to a decade of negative GDP growth at the end of the period.
• Increasing the 2020 emissions reduction target to 30% (25% domestic plus 5% offsets) would lower the overall costs of reaching the 2050 target and improve the GDP trend in the final decade by approximately 0.8% compared to the 20% scenario.
• The EU is likely to miss its non-binding 20% energy efficiency target by 2020, with projections suggesting only a 10% improvement, largely because policies focus on technical efficiency rather than absolute energy savings.
• The EU ETS post-2020 signal is inconsistent with the 2050 goal; the current 1.74% annual cap decrease would result in emissions 71% below 2005 levels by 2050, whereas a 90% reduction is required for the power sector.
• To provide investment certainty in the power sector, the EU should set a stringent indicative 2030 EU ETS cap of 45-50% emissions reduction compared to 2005 levels by early 2012, making it binding by 2014.
• Strengthening the CEP to a 30% emissions reduction target would improve energy security by reducing oil and gas imports by approximately 1% relative to a 20% scenario, saving €5.5bn in oil and €3.6bn in gas imports by 2020.
• While the EU holds the largest share of global environmental patents, its growth rate (approx 10%) has been significantly lower than Japan's (approx 30%) over the last decade, and countries like China and Korea show higher specialization in environmental innovation.
• Carbon leakage risks for carbon-intensive industries are generally limited, but specific sectors like ceramic tiles and flags, lime, and basic iron and steel could see production losses between 5.5% and 8.5% under a 30% target with free allocation.
• The report recommends using the EU budget and Cohesion policy to support Central and Eastern European (CEE) Member States, specifically through residential energy efficiency to combat energy poverty and upgrading energy infrastructure.

APA

GUERIN, E., & SPENCER, T. (2011). Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package. Climate Strategies. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-strengthening-the-european-union-climate-and-energy-package-final-9june.pdf

Chicago

GUERIN, Emmanuel, and Thomas SPENCER. Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package. Climate Strategies, 2011. https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-strengthening-the-european-union-climate-and-energy-package-final-9june.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=GUERIN |first1=Emmanuel |last2=SPENCER |first2=Thomas |title=Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package |publisher=Climate Strategies |date=8 June 2011 |url=https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-strengthening-the-european-union-climate-and-energy-package-final-9june.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{guerin2011strengthening, author = {GUERIN, Emmanuel and SPENCER, Thomas}, title = {{Strengthening the European Union Climate and Energy Package}}, institution = {Climate Strategies}, year = {2011}, month = jun, url = {https://climatestrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/cs-iddri-strengthening-the-european-union-climate-and-energy-package-final-9june.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }