The new report of the European Commission shows that renewable energy sources have exceeded fossil fuels for the first time as the main source of energy in the European Union. The report for 2021 reveals that renewable energy sources generate 38 percent of electricity in the European Union as compared to fossil fuels which generate 37 percent. The results were announced while the European Union member states are faced with a large price increase of energy-generating products.
During the presentation of the report, the European Commission pointed out that progress has been achieved in many areas but that greater effort will be needed in order to reduce CO2 emissions by at least 55 percent by 2030 and climate neutrality by 2050. The energy ministers of the EU member states welcomed, at a special meeting in Luxembourg on Tuesday, the proposed short-term measures for mitigating the impact of the high rise of energy prices on the most affected but did not succeed in reaching an agreement on mid and long-term measures for stabilizing the energy market.
The ministers welcomed the recent proposal of the Commission to assist low-income households and small businesses with targeted measures such as incentives for paying bills, temporary payment delays, temporary tax, and excise duty reductions. All these measures are within the competence of member states and many have already undertaken steps in that direction in order to prevent the blow of growing energy prices on the standard of living. However, as far as measures that should be brought on the European level are concerned, things are somewhat different. Nine member states, Austria, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Germany rejected the proposal of the other group of countries, led by France and Spain to reform the way in which wholesale prices electric power are determined. Sweden and Belgium subsequently aligned with the joint statement of the nine countries.
