The measures announced aim to support the EU in achieving its Fit for 55 target of a 55% net reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 and reaching the European Green Deal goal of climate neutrality in 2050.

Revised RED
Under the revised RED, the final overall EU renewable energy target for 2030 has been set at a mandatory 42.5% share of renewables in gross final energy consumption, up from the current 32% target, with an agreed voluntary goal of 45%.

The legislation also aims to speed up procedures to grant permits for new renewable energy power generation facilities, such as solar or wind farms, or to adapt existing ones. The maximum period for national authorities to approve new renewable energy installations will be 12 months, if located in so-called ‘renewables go-to areas’. Outside such areas, the process should not exceed 24 months.

The revised Directive also strengthens annual renewables targets for the heating and cooling sector and for renewable energy used in district heating systems, introducing a specific renewable energy benchmark of 49% for energy consumption in buildings by 2030.

In addition, the agreement reinforces the regulatory framework for renewable energy use in transport, setting a 14.5% GHG intensity reduction or 29% share of renewable energy in final energy consumption by 2030. It also includes a combined sub-target of 5.5% for advanced biofuels and renewable fuels of non-biological origin, including a minimum level of 1% for renewable fuels of non-biological origin. The GHG intensity goal was a concession to countries such as France, which already has a low-carbon electricity mix thanks to its fleet of 56 nuclear reactors.

As a key energy-consuming sector, ‘industry’ has been included for the first time in the RED, with the agreement introducing an ‘indicative target’ (ie not a legally binding obligation) of increasing the use of renewable energy by 1.6%/y by 2030. In addition, a binding target was set for 42% of industry’s use of hydrogen to come from renewable fuels by 2030 and 60% by 2035. However, there may be derogations for countries already meeting their decarbonisation goals – seen as another win for France with its low-carbon energy mix.

Commenting on the announcement, Cosimo Tansini, Policy Officer for Renewable Energy at the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) said: ‘It is very disappointing to see the ambition on the EU renewable energy target watered down through undue influences on the RED by the nuclear lobby and their champions among EU governments. A mandatory 45% target would already be weak and outdated. Scenario modelling shows that 50% is possible and recommendable to respect our climate goals from the Paris Agreement. Hence anything lower than 45% simply shows European dis-unity and lack of ambition. It is now crucial that EU countries commit to steep decarbonisation and renewables roll-out trajectories with a clear aim to exceed the targets set in the RED.’

Refuelling infrastructure boost
Other announcements included a new Regulation for the Deployment of Alternative Fuels Infrastructure (AFIR) that aims to boost the number of publicly accessible electric recharging and hydrogen refuelling stations in the EU, in particular across the region’s main transport corridors and hubs, and to facilitate the transition to zero emission transport.

The new regulation sets mandatory deployment targets for electric recharging and hydrogen refuelling infrastructure for the road sector, for shore-side electricity supply in maritime and inland waterway ports, and for electricity supply to stationary aircraft.

The main deployment targets that will have to be met in 2025 or 2030:

• Recharging infrastructure for cars and vans must grow at the same pace as vehicle uptake. For each registered battery-electric car in a given member state, a power output of 1.3 kW must be provided by publicly accessible recharging infrastructure. In addition, every 60 km along the trans-European transport (TEN-T) network, fast recharging stations of at least 150 kW need to be installed from 2025 onwards.
• Recharging stations dedicated to heavy-duty vehicles with a minimum output of 350 kW need to be deployed every 60 km along the TEN-T core network, and every 100 km on the larger TEN-T comprehensive network from 2025 onwards, with complete network coverage to be achieved by 2030. 
• Hydrogen refuelling infrastructure that can serve both cars and lorries must be deployed from 2030 onwards in all urban nodes and every 200 km along the TEN-T core network, ensuring a sufficiently dense network to allow hydrogen vehicles to travel across the EU.
• Maritime ports that see at least 50 port calls by large passenger vessels, or 100 port calls by container vessels, must provide shore-side electricity for such vessels by 2030. This will not only help reduce the carbon footprint of maritime transport, but also significantly reduce local air pollution in port areas.
• Airports must provide electricity to stationary aircraft at all contact stands (gates) by 2025, and at all remote stands (outfield positions) by 2030.

Cutting maritime GHG emissions
Political agreement was also reached on FuelEU Maritime – a new EU regulation ensuring that the GHG intensity of fuels used by the shipping sector will gradually decrease over time, by 2% in 2025 to as much as 80% by 2050. This measure will help reduce GHG emissions from the shipping sector by promoting the use of cleaner fuels and energy.

The deal complements the provisional agreement reached on 18 December 2022 to include shipping emissions in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), both key initiatives in the EU’s efforts to reduce maritime emissions.

The FuelEU Maritime targets cover not only CO₂, but also methane and nitrous oxide emissions over the full lifecycle of the fuels. The new rules also introduce an additional zero-emission requirement at berth, mandating the use of onshore power supply (OPS) or alternative zero-emission technologies in ports by passenger ships and container ships, with a view to mitigating air pollution emissions in ports, which are often close to densely populated areas.

The regulation also provides for a voluntary pooling mechanism, under which ships will be allowed to pool their compliance balance with one or more other ships. Thus, it will be the pool as a whole that has to meet the GHG intensity limits on average.

Reducing ICE on the roads
Meanwhile, the European Commission approved a law requiring all new cars and vans sold from 2035 to have zero emissions, effectively banning the sale of new internal combustion engine (IEC) petrol and diesel powered vehicles from that date. An intermediate target of 55% lower CO₂ emissions from 2030, compared to 2021 levels, has also been set for cars, while vans must achieve a 50% reduction.

However, an exemption was passed following objections from Germany, that will allow new cars running on e-fuels to be sold after 2035. Such fuels are deemed to be carbon neutral if made from renewable electricity utilising captured CO₂ emissions. E-fuels are not yet produced at scale.

Italy had pushed for an exemption regarding the use of biofuels. However, this was rejected as the European Commission said it did not regard biofuel to be a carbon-neutral fuel.

Commenting on the news, Julia Poliscanova, Senior Director for Vehicles and Mobility at Transport & Environment said: ‘Europe needs to move forward and give clarity to its automotive industry which is in a race with the US and China. E-fuels are an expensive and massively inefficient diversion from the transformation to electric facing Europe’s carmakers.’

Meanwhile, it should be noted that in the UK government’s Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate which it recently put out for consultation, the government has restated its plan to phase out the sale of all new petrol and diesel cars by 2030 and all non-zero emission cars by 2035. It says it currently has no intention of following the EU in allowing cars that run on e-fuels.