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EU member-states face legal action over NAPs

06. September 2010 By:  Brandon Mitchener

The European Commission is preparing to take legal action against EU member-states that fail to deliver national action plans (NAPs) on compliance with the EU’s 2020 renewable energy goals.

Mary Donnelly, director in the directorate for new and renewable energies in the Commission’s powerful energy department, told the European PV Industry Summit on Monday that only 19 member-states out of 27 had submitted their NAP’s to-date.They have until the end of September to submit their plans and avoid legal action, she said.

The national action plans are a key feature of the EU’s binding 2020 targets. The binding targets were introduced in response to member-states’ failure to keep non-binding promises in an earlier incarnation of the EU’s climate change legislation.

Because member-states signed up to the binding targets, they can now be held accountable for failure to live up to their commitments. The NAPs are key to the achievement of the EU’s 2020 goals because they set out the baseline scenario for how much wind, solar and other renewable energies will be needed to reach the 2020 goals, which include 20 percent renewable energy supply and 20 percent greenhouse gas reductions.

With no roadmap, history shows, there’s little likelihood that countries will get to the final destination. Donnelly said member-states need to make big investments, including in infrastructure, to achieve the 2020 targets. Like the doctor’s medicine, “it may be painful now, but you’ll feel much better afterwards,” she said.