Nuclear, for financial and environmental reasons, cannot be viewed as a sustainable energy source. Renewable energy and efficiency should receive the needed support to achieve their promise and compensate for market failures that are not addressed by liberalisation alone. Environmental protection is a social good that will not happen by itself in the market. The EU must finally take action and approve the Monti Directive on energy taxation, and introduce majority voting on environmental taxation with the current Treaty reforms. Full disclosure of the origin of electricity through labelling and certification.
Transparency is essential to effective liberalisation.
Customers have a right to know the environmental impacts of their purchases. The article on guarantee of origin in the European Commission directive on renewable energy should be extended to cover all electricity sources equally. Full disclosure is already current in some US states and should extended to all through federal legislation. The EU and US should agree to modify WTO rules and their own internal legislation to ensure that this is done. The US should also adopt the 2 mill per kWh levy to support energy conservation activities in the States.