The European Commission is assessing whether the European Union could achieve a higher target of a 45 per cent share in renewable energy by 2030.
This would be instead of the currently proposed 40 per cent, which is aimed at accelerating the bloc’s shift from Russian fossil fuels following the invasion of Ukraine.
“We are working on it full speed to take account, first of all the proposal of going from 40 to 45 per cent, but also in the context of higher energy prices,” Mechthild Woersdoerfer, deputy director-general of the Commission’s energy department, told a meeting of EU lawmakers on Wednesday.
Russia is the EU’s top gas supplier, and the 40 per cent renewable energy goal for 2030 was proposed by the Commission last year.
The EU got 22 per cent of its gross final energy consumption from renewables like wind, solar and biomass in 2020. The share varies widely between EU countries, ranging from more than 50 per cent in Sweden to below 10 per cent in Luxembourg.