Energy policy

European Commission calls for 50 billion euros for low-carbon energy technologies.

According to an assessment by the European Commission, Europe will need to invest an additional 50 billion euros in developing clean energy technologies over the next ten years in order to be able to implement the
2007 Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) as a necessary step for reaching the EU’s climate targets.

That would mean a tripling of the current investment volume. The European Commission identifies the greatest need as 16 billion euros for technology promotion in the area of solar energy, followed by 13 billion for carbon capture and storage, eleven billion to promote energy efficiency in the framework of the »Smart Cities« initiative, nine billion for bio-energy, seven billion for nuclear fission and six billion for wind energy. The Commission estimates two billion euros for development of technology to adjust energy networks to the new energy- and climate-related challenges.

The European Commission says that the additional resources are necessary to cover the financing requirements for basic and applied research, for demonstration projects and for promotion of early market introduction of new technologies. As possible sources for public financing, it points to the future national ETS auctioning fund, the 8th European Research Framework Programme, the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme and the EU recovery package for the energy sector. The public share of financing for energy research has hitherto come 80% from national resources and only 20% from the EU budget. Given the growing importance of Community programmes, the European Commission is now thinking about an increase in the share of EU financing in the framework of the upcoming budget review. However, the largest share of financing would continue to be provided by Member States and the private sector.

BDI believes that a massive increase in investments in energy research is a decisive precondition for reaching the EU’s medium- and long-term climate goals, together with the right policy
framework. It can only endorse the appeal to the Member States and the EU to increase the research budget and also to use revenues from the ETS auctioning fund primarily for promotion of R&D in the area of low-carbon energy technologies.