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Below is the executive summary of the report, highlighting particular outcomes and future recommendations that were a result of the discussions.
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Executive Summary
Significant progress has been made in deploying renewable energy across Europe in recent years, but there are still many hurdles and challenges to overcome if the EU wants to fully decarbonise its electricity sector by 2050. That was one of the key messages to come out of Friends of Europe's latest Café Crossfire discussion co-organised with The Smart Energy for Europe Platform (SEFEP) on Europe's renewable energy future on 31 May 2011. Participants examined progress 12 months after the publication of the original report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), the European Climate Forum, the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis that looked at the steps needed for Europe and North Africa to generate 100 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2050.
Discussions examined the potential for even tougher targets, the impact of the political unrest in North Africa on the energy perspective and how to remove market barriers. The panel also looked at a broad range of issues, including the level of political leadership, technological progress and how renewables could help solve Europe’s climate challenges. One of the report recommendations highlighted by Gus Schellekens, Director of the Sustainability and Climate Change Team at PwC, was for the EU to develop a longer-term perspective towards electricity generation, with strong stakeholder involvement and full support for the private sector.
The debate took place after the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that the goal to limit global warming to two degrees was in jeopardy, with energy-related emissions at a record high last year. Laszlo Varro, the agency's Head of Gas, Coal and Power Markets Division, spoke of how to decarbonise the energy sector to help meet this target. He was joined on the panel by Gerard Reid, Managing Director, Clean Rechnology, Jefferies International Ltd, who set out the issues facing industry and investors; Martin Rocholl, Acting Managing Director of the Smart Energy for Europe Platform (SEFEP) and Hans van Steen, Head of Unit for Regulatory Policy and the Promotion of Renewable Energy at the European Commission. The discussion was moderated by Willy De Backer, the Head of Friends of Europe's Greening Europe Forum.
