DIRECTIVE (EU) 2018/2001 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 11 December 2018

on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources

(recast)

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 194(2) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions (2),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (3),

Whereas:

(1) Directive 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) has been substantially amended several times (5). Since further amendments are to be made, that Directive should be recast in the interests of clarity.

(2) In accordance with Article 194(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), promoting renewable forms of energy is one of the goals of the Union energy policy. That goal is pursued by this Directive. The increased use of energy from renewable sources or ‘renewable energy’ constitutes an important part of the package of measures needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and comply with the Union's commitment under the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change following the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (the ‘Paris Agreement’), and with the Union 2030 energy and climate framework, including the Union's binding target to cut emissions by at least 40 % below 1990 levels by 2030. The Union's binding renewable energy target for 2030 and Member States' contributions to that target, including their baseline shares in relation to their national overall targets for 2020, are among the elements which have an overarching importance for the Union's energy and environmental policy. Other such elements are contained in the framework set out in this Directive, for instance, for the development of renewable heating and cooling and the development of renewable transport fuels.

(3) The increased use of energy from renewable sources also has a fundamental part to play in promoting the security of energy supply, sustainable energy at affordable prices, technological development and innovation as well as technological and industrial leadership while providing environmental, social and health benefits as well as major opportunities for employment and regional development, especially in rural and isolated areas, in regions or territories with low population density or undergoing partial deindustrialisation.

(4) In particular, reducing energy consumption, increasing technological improvements, incentives for the use and expansion of public transport, the use of energy efficiency technologies and the promotion of the use of renewable energy in the electricity sector, the heating and cooling sector and the transport sector are effective tools, together with energy efficiency measures, for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Union and the Union's energy dependence.

(5) Directive 2009/28/EC established a regulatory framework for the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources which set binding national targets on the share of renewable energy in energy consumption and in the transport sector to be met by 2020. The Commission Communication of 22 January 2014 entitled ‘A policy framework for climate and energy in the period from 2020 to 2030’, established a framework for future Union energy and climate policies and promoted a common understanding of how to develop those policies after 2020. The Commission proposed that the Union 2030 target for the share of renewable energy consumed in the Union should be at least 27 %. That proposal was endorsed by the European Council in its conclusions of 23 and 24 October 2014, which indicated that Member States should be able to set their own, more ambitious, national targets in order to deliver their planned contributions to the Union 2030 target and exceed them.

(6) In its resolutions of 5 February 2014 entitled ‘A 2030 framework for climate and energy policies’ and of 23 June 2016 entitled ‘The renewable energy progress report’, the European Parliament went further than the Commission proposal or the European Council conclusions, stressing that, in light of the Paris Agreement and the recent renewable technology cost reductions, it was desirable to be significantly more ambitious.

(7) The ambition set out in the Paris Agreement as well as technological developments, including cost reductions for investments in renewable energy, should therefore be taken into account.

(8) It is thus appropriate to establish a binding Union target of a share of at least 32 % of renewable energy. Moreover, the Commission should assess whether that target should be reviewed upwards in light of substantial cost reductions in the production of renewable energy, the Union's international commitments for decarbonisation, or in the case of a significant decrease in energy consumption in the Union. Member States should establish their contribution to the achievement of that target as part of their integrated national energy and climate plans pursuant to the governance process laid down in Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).

(9) The establishment of a binding Union renewable energy target for 2030 would continue to encourage the development of technologies which produce renewable energy and provide certainty for investors. A target defined at Union level would leave greater flexibility for Member States to meet their greenhouse gas reduction targets in the most cost-effective manner in accordance with their specific circumstances, energy mix and capacity to produce renewable energy.

(10) In order to ensure consolidation of the results achieved under Directive 2009/28/EC, the national targets set for 2020 should constitute Member States' minimum contributions to the new 2030 framework. Under no circumstances should the national shares of renewable energy fall below those contributions. If they do, the relevant Member States should take appropriate measures as provided for in Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 to ensure that that baseline share is regained. If a Member State does not maintain its baseline share over a 12-month period, it should, within 12 months of the end of that period, take additional measures to regain that baseline share. Where a Member State has effectively taken such additional measures and has fulfilled its obligation to regain the baseline share, it should be deemed to have complied with the mandatory baseline share requirements under this Directive and under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 for the entire period in question. The Member State in question cannot therefore be considered to have failed to fulfil its obligation to maintain its baseline share for the period in time where the gap occurred. Both the 2020 and 2030 frameworks serve the environmental and energy policy objectives of the Union.

(11) Member States should take additional measures in the event that the share of renewable energy at Union level does not meet the Union trajectory towards the renewable energy target of at least 32 %. Under Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 the Commission may take measures at Union level in order to ensure achievement of the target if an ambition gap is identified by the Commission during the assessment of the integrated national energy and climate plans. If the Commission identifies a delivery gap during its assessment of the integrated national energy and climate progress reports, Member States should apply the measures provided for in Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 to close that gap.

(12) In order to support Member States' ambitious contributions to the Union target, a financial framework aiming to facilitate investments in renewable energy projects in those Member States should be established, including through the use of financial instruments.

(13) The Commission should focus the allocation of funds on the reduction of the cost of capital of renewable energy projects since such cost has a material impact on the cost of renewable energy projects and on their competitiveness, as well as on the development of essential infrastructure for an enhanced technically feasible and economically affordable uptake of renewable energy such as transmission and distribution grid infrastructure, intelligent networks and interconnections.

(14) The Commission should facilitate the exchange of best practices between the competent national or regional authorities or bodies, for instance through regular meetings, to find a common approach to promote a higher uptake of cost-efficient renewable energy projects. The Commission should also encourage investments in new, flexible and clean technologies, and establish an adequate strategy to manage the retirement of technologies which do not contribute to the reduction of emissions or deliver sufficient flexibility, based on transparent criteria and reliable market price signals.

(15) Regulation (EC) No 1099/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7), Directives 2001/77/EC (8) and 2003/30/EC (9) of the European Parliament and of the Council, and Directive 2009/28/EC established definitions for different types of energy from renewable sources. Union law on the internal market for energy establishes definitions for the electricity sector in general. In the interests of clarity and legal certainty it is appropriate to apply those definitions in this Directive.

(16) Support schemes for electricity from renewable sources or ‘renewable electricity’ have been demonstrated to be an effective way of fostering deployment of renewable electricity. If and when Member States decide to implement support schemes, such support should be provided in a form that is as non-distortive as possible for the functioning of electricity markets. To that end, an increasing number of Member States allocate support in a form by means of which support is granted in addition to market revenues and introduce market-based systems to determine the necessary level of support. Together with steps by which to make the market fit for increasing shares of renewable energy, such support is a key element of increasing the market integration of renewable electricity, while taking into account the different capabilities of small and large producers to respond to market signals.

(17) Small-scale installations can be of great benefit to increase public acceptance and to ensure the rollout of renewable energy projects, in particular at local level. In order to ensure participation of such small-scale installations, specific conditions, including feed-in tariffs, might therefore still be necessary to ensure a positive cost-benefit ratio, in accordance with Union law relating to the electricity market. The definition of small-scale installations for the purposes of obtaining such support is important to provide legal certainty for investors. State aid rules contain definitions of small-scale installations.

(18) Pursuant to Article 108 TFEU, the Commission has exclusive competence to assess the compatibility of State aid measures with the internal market which the Member States may put in place for deployment of energy from renewable sources. That assessment is carried out on the basis of Article 107(3) TFEU and in accordance with the relevant provisions and guidelines which the Commission may adopt to that effect. This Directive is without prejudice to the Commission's exclusive competence granted by the TFEU.

(19) Electricity from renewable sources should be deployed at the lowest possible cost to consumers and taxpayers. When designing support schemes and when allocating support, Member States should seek to minimise the overall system cost of deployment along the decarbonisation pathway towards the objective of a low-carbon economy by the year 2050. Market-based mechanisms, such as tendering procedures, have been demonstrated to reduce support cost effectively in competitive markets in many circumstances. However, in specific circumstances, tendering procedures may not necessarily lead to efficient price discovery. Balanced exemptions may therefore need to be considered to ensure cost-effectiveness and minimise overall support cost. In particular, Member States should be allowed to grant exemptions from tendering procedures and direct marketing to small-scale installations and demonstration projects in order to take into account their more limited capabilities. Since the Commission assesses the compatibility of support for renewable energy with the internal market on a case-by-case basis, such exemptions should comply with the relevant thresholds set out in the latest Commission Guidelines on State aid for environmental protection and energy. In the Guidelines for 2014 to 2020, those thresholds are set at 1 MW (and 6 MW or 6 generation units for wind energy) and 500 kW (and 3 MW or 3 generation units for wind energy) in terms of exemptions from, respectively, tendering procedures and direct marketing. To increase the effectiveness of tendering procedures to minimise overall support costs, tendering procedures should, in principle, be open to all producers of electricity from renewable sources on a non-discriminatory basis. While Member States develop their support schemes, they may limit tendering procedures to specific technologies where this is needed to avoid sub-optimal results with regard to network constraints and grid stability, system integration costs, the need to achieve diversification of the energy mix, and the long-term potential of technologies.

(20) In its conclusions of 23 and 24 October 2014 on the ‘2030 Climate and Energy Policy Framework’, the European Council stressed the importance of a more interconnected internal energy market and the need for sufficient support to integrate ever increasing levels of variable renewable energy and thus allow the Union to fulfil its leadership ambitions for the energy transition. It is therefore important and urgent to increase the level of interconnection and to make progress towards the European Council's objectives, in order to maximise the Energy Union's full potential.

(21) When developing support schemes for renewable sources of energy, Member States should consider the available sustainable supply of biomass and take due account of the principles of the circular economy and of the waste hierarchy established in Directive 2008/98/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (10) in order to avoid unnecessary distortions of raw materials markets. Waste prevention and recycling of waste should be the priority option. Member States should avoid creating support schemes which would be counter to targets on treatment of waste and which would lead to the inefficient use of recyclable waste.

(22) Member States have different renewable energy potentials and operate different support schemes at national level. The majority of Member States apply support schemes that grant benefits solely to energy from renewable sources that is produced on their territory. For the proper functioning of national support schemes, it is vital that Member States continue to be able to control the effect and costs of their national support schemes in accordance with their different potentials. One important means by which to achieve the aim of this Directive remains to guarantee the proper functioning of national support schemes under Directives 2001/77/EC and 2009/28/EC, in order to maintain investor confidence and allow Member States to design effective national measures for their respective contributions to the Union's 2030 target for renewable energy and for the national targets that they have set for themselves. This Directive should facilitate cross-border support for renewable energy without affecting national support schemes in a disproportionate manner.

(23) The opening of support schemes to cross-border participation limits negative impacts on the internal energy market and can, under certain conditions, help Member States achieve the Union target more cost-efficiently. Cross-border participation is also the natural corollary to the development of the Union renewable energy policy, fostering convergence and cooperation to contribute to the Union's binding target. It is therefore appropriate to encourage Member States to open support to projects located in other Member States, and define several ways in which such progressive opening may be implemented, ensuring compliance with the TFEU, in particular Articles 30, 34 and 110 thereof. As electricity flows cannot be traced, it is appropriate to link the opening of support schemes to cross-border participation to shares representing an aspiration towards actual levels of physical interconnection and to allow Member States to restrict their open support schemes to Member States with which they have a direct network connection as a practical proxy for demonstrating the existence of physical flows between the Member States. This should not, however, in any way affect the cross-zonal or cross-border functioning of the electricity markets.

(24) In order to ensure that the opening of support schemes is reciprocal and brings mutual benefits, cooperation agreements should be signed between participating Member States. Member States should retain control over the pace of deployment of renewable electricity capacity on their territory in order, in particular, to take account of associated integration costs and required grid investments. Member States should thus be allowed to limit the participation of installations located on their territory to tenders opened to them by other Member States. Those cooperation agreements should address all relevant aspects, such as accounting for costs relating to a project built by one Member State on the territory of another, including the expenditure relating to strengthening networks, energy transfer, storage and back-up capacity, as well as possible congestions in the network. In those agreements Member States should also take into account measures that may allow for the cost-effective integration of such additional renewable electricity capacity, whether they are of a regulatory nature (for instance related to market design) or provide for additional investments in various sources of flexibility (for instance interconnections, storage, demand response or flexible generation).

(25) Member States should avoid distortive situations resulting in the extensive importation of resources from third countries. A life-cycle approach should be considered and promoted in that respect.

(26) Member States should ensure that renewable energy communities can participate in available support schemes on an equal footing with large participants. To that end, Member States should be allowed to take measures, such as providing information, providing technical and financial support, reducing administrative requirements, including community-focused bidding criteria, creating tailored bidding windows for renewable energy communities, or allowing renewable energy communities to be remunerated through direct support where they comply with requirements of small installations.

(27) The planning of the infrastructure needed for the production of electricity from renewable sources should take into account policies relating to the participation of those affected by the projects, in particular local populations.

(28) Consumers should be provided with comprehensive information, including information on the energy performance of heating and cooling systems and on the lower running costs of electric vehicles, to allow them to make individual consumer choices with regard to renewable energy and avoid technology lock-in.

(29) Without prejudice to Articles 107 and 108 TFEU, policies supporting renewable energy should be predictable and stable and should avoid frequent or retroactive changes. Policy unpredictability and instability have a direct impact on capital financing costs, on the costs of project development and therefore on the overall cost of deploying renewable energy in the Union. Member States should prevent the revision of any support granted to renewable energy projects from having a negative impact on their economic viability. In that context, Member States should promote cost-effective support policies and ensure their financial sustainability. Moreover, a long-term indicative schedule covering the main aspects of the expected support should be published, without affecting the ability of Member States to decide on budget allocation in the years covered by the schedule.

(30) Member States' obligations to draft renewable energy action plans and progress reports and the Commission's obligation to report on Member States' progress are essential in order to increase transparency, provide clarity to investors and consumers and allow for effective monitoring. Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 integrates those obligations in the Energy Union governance system, where planning, reporting and monitoring obligations in the energy and climate fields are streamlined. The transparency platform on renewable energy is also integrated in the broader e-platform established in that Regulation.

(31) It is necessary to provide for transparent and unambiguous rules for calculating the share of energy from renewable sources and for defining those sources.

(32) In calculating the contribution of hydropower and wind power for the purposes of this Directive, the effects of climatic variation should be smoothed through the use of a normalisation rule. Further, electricity produced in pumped storage units from water that has previously been pumped uphill should not be considered to be renewable electricity.

(33) In order to function, heat pumps enabling the use of ambient and geothermal energy at a useful temperature level or systems providing cooling need electricity or other auxiliary energy. The energy used to drive those systems should therefore be deducted from the total usable energy or energy removed from the area. Only heating and cooling systems where the output or energy removed from an area significantly exceeds the primary energy needed to drive them should be taken into account. Cooling systems contribute to energy use in Member States and it is therefore appropriate that the calculation methods take into account the share of renewable energy used in such systems in all end-use sectors.

(34) Passive energy systems use building design to harness energy. This is considered to be saved energy. To avoid double counting, energy harnessed in this way should not be taken into account for the purposes of this Directive.

(35) Some Member States have a large share of aviation in their gross final consumption of energy. In view of the current technological and regulatory constraints that prevent the commercial use of biofuels in aviation, it is therefore appropriate to provide those Member States with a partial exemption within the calculation of the gross final consumption of energy in the national air transport sector in order to allow them to exclude from that calculation the amount by which they exceed one-and-a-half times the Union average gross final consumption of energy in aviation in 2005, as assessed by Eurostat, namely, 6,18 %. Due to their insular and peripheral character, Cyprus and Malta rely in particular on aviation as a mode of transport, which is essential for their citizens and their economy. As a result, their gross final consumption of energy in the national air transport sector is disproportionally high, namely, more than three times the Union average in 2005. They are thus disproportionately affected by the current technological and regulatory constraints. It is therefore appropriate to provide that they benefit from an exemption covering the amount by which they exceed the Union average gross final consumption of energy in aviation in 2005 as assessed by Eurostat, namely, 4,12 %.

(36) The communication of the Commission of 20 July 2016 entitled ‘A European Strategy for Low-Emission Mobility’, highlighted the particular importance, in the medium term, of advanced biofuels and renewable liquid and gaseous fuels of non-biological origin for aviation.

(37) In order to ensure that the list of feedstock to produce advanced biofuels, other biofuels and biogas, as set out in an annex to this Directive, takes into account the principles of the waste hierarchy established in Directive 2008/98/EC, the Union sustainability criteria, and the need to ensure that that annex does not create additional demand for land while promoting the use of wastes and residues, the Commission, when regularly evaluating that annex, should consider the inclusion of additional feedstock that does not cause significant distortive effects on markets for (by-)products, wastes or residues.

(38) To create opportunities for reducing the cost of meeting the Union target laid down in this Directive and to give flexibility to Member States to comply with their obligation not to fall below their 2020 national targets after 2020, it is appropriate both to facilitate the consumption in Member States of energy produced from renewable sources in other Member States, and to enable Member States to count energy from renewable sources consumed in other Member States towards their own renewable energy share. For that reason, the Commission should put in place a Union renewable development platform (‘URDP’), enabling trading renewable energy shares between Member States, in addition to bilateral cooperation agreements. The URDP is intended to complement the voluntary opening of support schemes to projects located in other Member States. The agreements between Member States include statistical transfers, joint projects between Member States or joint support schemes.

(39) Member States should be encouraged to pursue all appropriate forms of cooperation in relation to the objectives set out in this Directive and to inform citizens about the benefits stemming from the use of cooperation mechanisms. Such cooperation can take place at all levels, bilaterally or multilaterally. Apart from the mechanisms which have an effect on target renewable energy share calculation and target compliance, and which are exclusively provided for in this Directive, namely statistical transfers between Member States –whether put in place bilaterally or through the URDP – joint projects and joint support schemes, cooperation can also take the form of, for example, exchanges of information and best practices, as provided for, in particular, in the e-platform established by Regulation (EU) 2018/1999, and other voluntary coordination between all types of support schemes.

(40) It should be possible for imported electricity produced from renewable sources outside the Union to count towards Member States' renewable energy shares. In order to guarantee an adequate effect of renewable energy replacing non-renewable energy in the Union as well as in third countries, it is appropriate to ensure that such imports can be tracked and accounted for in a reliable way. Agreements with third countries concerning the organisation of such trade in renewable electricity will be considered. If, by virtue of a decision taken under the Energy Community Treaty (11) to that effect, the contracting parties thereto are bound by the relevant provisions of this Directive, the measures of cooperation between Member States provided for in this Directive should be applicable to them.

(41) When Member States undertake joint projects with one or more third countries regarding the production of renewable electricity, it is appropriate that those joint projects relate only to newly constructed installations or to installations with newly increased capacity. This will help ensure that the proportion of energy from renewable sources in the third country's total energy consumption is not reduced due to the importation of energy from renewable sources into the Union.

(42) In addition to establishing a Union framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources, this Directive also contributes to the potential positive impact which the Union and the Member States can have in boosting the development of the renewable energy sector in third countries. The Union and the Member States should promote research, development and investment in the production of renewable energy in developing and other partner countries while fully respecting international law, thereby strengthening their environmental and economic sustainability and their export capacity of renewable energy.

(43) The procedure used for the authorisation, certification and licensing of renewable energy plants should be objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate when applying the rules to specific projects. In particular, it is appropriate to avoid any unnecessary burden that could arise by classifying renewable energy projects under installations which represent a high risk to health.

(44) For the benefit of the rapid deployment of energy from renewable sources and in view of their overall high sustainable and environmental beneficial quality, Member States should, when applying administrative rules or planning structures and legislation which are designed for licensing installations with respect to pollution reduction and control of industrial plants, for combating air pollution, or for the prevention or minimisation of the discharge of dangerous substances in the environment, take into account the contribution of energy from renewable sources towards meeting environmental and climate change objectives, in particular when compared to non-renewable energy installations.

(45) The coherence between the objectives of this Directive and the Union's other environmental law should be ensured. In particular, during assessment, planning or licensing procedures for renewable energy installations, Member States should take account of all Union environmental law and the contribution made by energy from renewable sources towards meeting environmental and climate change objectives, in particular when compared to non-renewable energy installations.

(46) Geothermal energy is an important local renewable energy source which usually has considerably lower emissions than fossil fuels, and certain types of geothermal plants produce near-zero emission. However, depending on the geological characteristics of an area, the production of geothermal energy may release greenhouse gases and other substances from underground fluids, and other subsoil geological formations, which are harmful for health and the environment. The Commission should therefore facilitate only the deployment of geothermal energy with a low environmental impact and resulting in greenhouse gas emissions savings compared to non-renewable sources.

(47) At national, regional and where applicable local level, rules and obligations for minimum requirements for the use of energy from renewable sources in new and renovated buildings have led to considerable increases in the use of energy from renewable sources. Those measures should be encouraged in a wider Union context, while promoting the use of more energy-efficient applications of energy from renewable sources in combination with energy-savings and energy-efficiency measures through building regulations and codes.

(48) In order to facilitate and accelerate the setting of minimum levels for the use of energy from renewable sources in buildings, the calculation of those minimum levels in new and existing buildings subject to major renovation should provide a sufficient basis for assessing whether the inclusion of minimum levels of renewable energy is technically, functionally and economically feasible. Member States should allow, inter alia, the use of efficient district heating and cooling or, where district heating and cooling systems are not available, other energy infrastructure to fulfil those requirements.

(49) To ensure that national measures for developing renewable heating and cooling are based on comprehensive mapping and analysis of the national renewable and waste energy potential and that such measures provide for increased integration of renewable energy, by supporting, inter alia, innovative technologies such as heat pumps, geothermal and solar thermal technologies, and waste heat and cold, it is appropriate to require that Member States carry out an assessment of their potential of energy from renewable sources and the use of waste heat and cold in the heating and cooling sector, in particular to promote energy from renewable sources in heating and cooling installations and promote competitive and efficient district heating and cooling. To ensure consistency with energy efficiency requirements for heating and cooling and reduce administrative burden, that assessment should be included in the comprehensive assessments carried out and notified in accordance with Article 14 of Directive 2012/27/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (12).

(50) The lack of transparent rules and coordination between the different authorisation bodies has been shown to hinder the deployment of energy from renewable sources. Providing guidance to applicants throughout their administrative permit application and granting processes by means of an administrative contact point is intended to reduce complexity for project developers and increase efficiency and transparency, including for renewables self-consumers and renewable energy communities. Such guidance is to be provided at an appropriate level of governance, taking into account the specificities of Member States. The single contact points should guide the applicant and facilitate through the entire administrative process so that the applicant is not obliged to contact other administrative bodies in order to complete the permit-granting process, unless the applicant prefers to do so.

(51) Lengthy administrative procedures constitute a major administrative barrier and are costly. The simplification of administrative permit granting processes, and clear time-limits for decisions to be taken by the authorities competent for issuing the authorisation for the electricity generation installation on the basis of a completed application, should stimulate a more efficient handling of procedures, thereby reducing administrative costs. A manual of procedures should be made available to facilitate the understanding of procedures for project developers and citizens wishing to invest in renewable energy. In order to foster the uptake of renewable energy by microenterprises and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individual citizens, in accordance with the objectives set out in this Directive, a simple-notification procedure for grid connections to the competent body should be established for small renewable energy projects, including those that are decentralised, such as rooftop solar installations. In order to respond to the increasing need for the repowering of existing renewable energy plants, streamlined permit-granting procedures should be provided for. This Directive, in particular the provisions on the organisation and duration of the administrative permit granting process, should apply without prejudice to international and Union law, including provisions to protect the environment and human health. Where duly justified on the grounds of extraordinary circumstances, it should be possible to extend the initial timeframes by up to one year.

(52) Information and training gaps, especially in the heating and cooling sector, should be removed in order to encourage the deployment of energy from renewable sources.

(53) In so far as the access or pursuit of the profession of installer is a regulated profession, the preconditions for the recognition of professional qualifications are laid down in Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (13). This Directive therefore applies without prejudice to Directive 2005/36/EC.

(54) While Directive 2005/36/EC lays down requirements for the mutual recognition of professional qualifications, including for architects, there is also a need to ensure that planners and architects properly consider an optimal combination of renewable energy and high-efficiency technologies in their plans and designs. Member States should therefore provide clear guidance in that regard. This should be done without prejudice to that Directive and in particular Articles 46 and 49 thereof.

(55) Guarantees of origin issued for the purposes of this Directive have the sole function of showing to a final customer that a given share or quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources. A guarantee of origin can be transferred, independently of the energy to which it relates, from one holder to another. However, with a view to ensuring that a unit of renewable energy is disclosed to a customer only once, double counting and double disclosure of guarantees of origin should be avoided. Energy from renewable sources in relation to which the accompanying guarantee of origin has been sold separately by the producer should not be disclosed or sold to the final customer as energy from renewable sources. It is important to distinguish between green certificates used for support schemes and guarantees of origin.

(56) It is appropriate to allow the consumer market for renewable electricity to contribute to the development of energy from renewable sources. Member States should therefore require electricity suppliers who disclose their energy mix to final customers pursuant to Union law on the internal market for electricity, or who market energy to consumers with a reference to the consumption of energy from renewable sources, to use guarantees of origin from installations producing energy from renewable sources.

(57) It is important to provide information on how supported electricity is allocated to final customers. In order to improve the quality of that information to consumers, Member States should ensure that guarantees of origin are issued for all units of renewable energy produced, except where they decide not to issue guarantees of origin to producers that also receive financial support. If Member States decide to issue guarantees of origin to producers that also receive financial support or not to issue guarantees of origin directly to producers, they should be able to choose by which means and mechanisms to take into account the market value of those guarantees of origin. Where renewable energy producers also receive financial support, the market value of the guarantees of origin for the same production should be appropriately taken into account in the relevant support scheme.

(58) Directive 2012/27/EU provides for guarantees of origin for proving the origin of electricity produced from high-efficiency cogeneration plants. However, no use is specified for such guarantees of origin, so their use may also be enabled when disclosing the use of energy from high-efficiency cogeneration.

(59) Guarantees of origin which are currently in place for renewable electricity should be extended to cover renewable gas. Extending the guarantees of origin system to energy from non-renewable sources should be an option for Member States. This would provide a consistent means of proving to final customers the origin of renewable gas such as biomethane and would facilitate greater cross-border trade in such gas. It would also enable the creation of guarantees of origin for other renewable gas such as hydrogen.

(60) There is a need to support the integration of energy from renewable sources into the transmission and distribution grid and the use of energy storage systems for integrated variable production of energy from renewable sources, in particular as regards the rules regulating dispatch and access to the grid. The framework for the integration of renewable electricity is provided for in other Union law relating to the internal electricity market. However, that framework does not include provisions on the integration of gas from renewable sources into the gas grid. It is therefore necessary to include such provisions in this Directive.

(61) The opportunities for establishing economic growth through innovation and a sustainable competitive energy policy have been recognised. Production of energy from renewable sources often depends on local or regional SMEs. The opportunities for local business development, sustainable growth and high-quality employment that investments in regional and local production of energy from renewable sources bring about in the Member States and their regions are important. The Commission and the Member States should therefore foster and support national and regional development measures in those areas, encourage the exchange of best practices in production of energy from renewable sources between local and regional development initiatives and enhance the provision of technical assistance and training programmes, in order to strengthen regulatory, technical and financial expertise and foster knowledge on available funding possibilities, including a more targeted use of Union funds, such as the use of cohesion policy funding in that area.

(62) Regional and local authorities often set more ambitious renewable targets that exceed national targets. Regional and local commitments to stimulating development of renewable energy and energy efficiency are currently supported through networks, such as the Covenant of Mayors, Smart Cities or Smart Communities initiatives, and the development of sustainable energy action plans. Such networks are essential and should be expanded, as they raise awareness and facilitate exchanges of best practices and available financial support. In that context, the Commission should support interested innovative regions and local authorities to work across borders by assisting in setting up cooperation mechanisms, such as the European Grouping of Territorial Cooperation, which enables public authorities of various Member States to collaborate and deliver joint services and projects, without requiring a prior international agreement to be signed and ratified by national parliaments. Other innovative measures to attract more investment into new technologies, such as energy-performance contracts and standardisation processes in public financing, should also be considered.

(63) When favouring the development of the market for energy from renewable sources, it is necessary to take into account the positive impact on regional and local development opportunities, export prospects, social cohesion and employment opportunities, in particular as concerns SMEs and independent energy producers, including renewables self-consumers and renewable energy communities.

(64) The specific situation of the outermost regions is recognised in Article 349 TFEU. The energy sector in the outermost regions is often characterised by isolation, limited supply and dependence on fossil fuels while those regions benefit from significant local renewable sources of energy. The outermost regions could thus serve as examples of the application of innovative energy technologies for the Union. It is therefore necessary to promote the uptake of renewable energy in order to achieve a higher degree of energy autonomy for those regions and recognise their specific situation in terms of renewable energy potential and public support needs. Provision should be made for a derogation of limited local impact that allows Member States to adopt specific criteria in order to ensure eligibility for financial support for the consumption of certain biomass fuels. Member States should be able to adopt such specific criteria for installations using biomass fuels and located in an outermost region as referred to in Article 349 TFEU, as well as for biomass that is used as fuel in such installations and that does not comply with the harmonised sustainability, energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria set out in this Directive. Such specific criteria for biomass fuels should apply irrespective of whether the place of origin of that biomass is a Member State or a third country. Moreover, any specific criteria should be objectively justified on the grounds of energy independence of the outermost region concerned and of ensuring a smooth transition to the sustainability criteria, the energy efficiency criteria and the greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biomass fuels of this Directive in such an outermost region. Considering that the energy mix for electricity generation for the outermost regions is made up to a large extent of fuel oil, it is necessary to allow an appropriate consideration of greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria in those regions. It would therefore be appropriate to provide for a specific fossil fuel comparator for the electricity produced in the outermost regions. Member States should ensure effective compliance with their specific criteria. Finally, Member States should, without prejudice to support granted in accordance with support schemes in accordance with this Directive, not refuse to take into account, on other sustainability grounds, biofuels and bioliquids obtained in accordance with this Directive. This prohibition is intended to ensure that biofuels and bioliquids that comply with the harmonised criteria provided for in this Directive continue to benefit from the trade facilitation objectives of this Directive, including as regards the outermost regions concerned.

(65) It is appropriate to allow for the development of decentralised renewable energy technologies and storage under non-discriminatory conditions and without hampering the financing of infrastructure investments. The move towards decentralised energy production has many benefits, including the utilisation of local energy sources, increased local security of energy supply, shorter transport distances and reduced energy transmission losses. Such decentralisation also fosters community development and cohesion by providing income sources and creating jobs locally.

(66) With the growing importance of self-consumption of renewable electricity, there is a need for a definition of ‘renewables self-consumers’ and of ‘jointly acting renewables self-consumers’. It is also necessary to establish a regulatory framework which would empower renewables self-consumers to generate, consume, store, and sell electricity without facing disproportionate burdens. Citizens living in apartments for example should be able to benefit from consumer empowerment to the same extent as households in single family homes. However, Member States should be allowed to differentiate between individual renewables self-consumers and jointly acting renewables self-consumers due to their different characteristics to the extent that any such differentiation is proportionate and duly justified.

(67) Empowering jointly acting renewables self-consumers also provides opportunities for renewable energy communities to advance energy efficiency at household level and helps fight energy poverty through reduced consumption and lower supply tariffs. Member States should take appropriate advantage of that opportunity by, inter alia, assessing the possibility to enable participation by households that might otherwise not be able to participate, including vulnerable consumers and tenants.

(68) Renewables self-consumers should not face discriminatory or disproportionate burdens or costs and should not be subject to unjustified charges. Their contribution to the achievement of the climate and energy target and the costs and benefits that they bring about in the wider energy system should be taken into account. Member States should therefore generally not apply charges to electricity produced and consumed within the same premises by renewables self-consumers. However, Member States should be allowed to apply non-discriminatory and proportionate charges to such electricity if necessary to ensure the financial sustainability of the electricity system, to limit the support to what is objectively needed and to make efficient use of their support schemes. At the same time, Member States should ensure that renewables self-consumers contribute in a balanced and adequate way to the overall cost-sharing system of producing, distributing and consuming electricity, when electricity is fed into the grid.

(69) To that end, Member States should as a general principle not apply charges to electricity individually produced and consumed by renewables self-consumers within the same premises. However, in order to prevent that incentive from affecting the financial stability of support schemes for renewable energy, that incentive could be limited to small installations with an electrical capacity of 30 kW or less. In certain cases, Member States should be allowed to apply charges to renewables self-consumers for self-consumed electricity, where they make efficient use of their support schemes and apply non-discriminatory and effective access to their support schemes. Member States should also be able to apply partial exemptions from charges, levies, or a combination thereof and support, up to the level needed to ensure the economic viability of such projects.

(70) The participation of local citizens and local authorities in renewable energy projects through renewable energy communities has resulted in substantial added value in terms of local acceptance of renewable energy and access to additional private capital which results in local investment, more choice for consumers and greater participation by citizens in the energy transition. Such local involvement is all the more crucial in a context of increasing renewable energy capacity. Measures to allow renewable energy communities to compete on an equal footing with other producers also aim to increase the participation of local citizens in renewable energy projects and therefore increase acceptance of renewable energy.

(71) The specific characteristics of local renewable energy communities in terms of size, ownership structure and the number of projects can hamper their competition on an equal footing with large-scale players, namely competitors with larger projects or portfolios. Therefore, it should be possible for Member States to choose any form of entity for renewable energy communities, provided that such an entity may, acting in its own name, exercise rights and be subject to obligations. To avoid abuse and to ensure broad participation, renewable energy communities should be capable of remaining autonomous from individual members and other traditional market actors that participate in the community as members or shareholders, or who cooperate through other means such as investment. Participation in renewable energy projects should be open to all potential local members based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria. Measures to offset the disadvantages relating to the specific characteristics of local renewable energy communities in terms of size, ownership structure and the number of projects include enabling renewable energy communities to operate in the energy system and easing their market integration. Renewable energy communities should be able to share between themselves energy that is produced by their community-owned installations. However, community members should not be exempt from relevant costs, charges, levies and taxes that would be borne by final consumers who are not community members, producers in a similar situation, or where public grid infrastructure is used for those transfers.

(72) Household consumers and communities engaging in renewables self-consumption should maintain their rights as consumers, including the rights to have a contract with a supplier of their choice and to switch supplier.

(73) Representing around half of the final energy consumption of the Union, the heating and cooling sector is considered to be a key sector in accelerating the decarbonisation of the energy system. Moreover, it is also a strategic sector in terms of energy security, as around 40 % of the renewable energy consumption by 2030 is projected to come from renewable heating and cooling. However, the absence of a harmonised strategy at Union level, the lack of internalisation of external costs and the fragmentation of heating and cooling markets have, to date, led to relatively slow progress in the sector.

(74) Several Member States have implemented measures in the heating and cooling sector to reach their 2020 renewable energy target. However, in the absence of binding national targets post-2020, the remaining national incentives may not be sufficient to reach the long-term decarbonisation goals for 2030 and 2050. In order to meet such goals, reinforce investor certainty and foster the development of a Union-wide renewable heating and cooling market, while respecting the energy efficiency first principle, it is appropriate to encourage the efforts of Member States in the supply of renewable heating and cooling to contribute to the progressive increase of the share of renewable energy. Given the fragmented nature of some heating and cooling markets, it is of utmost importance to ensure flexibility in designing such an effort. It is also important to ensure that a potential uptake of renewable heating and cooling does not have detrimental environmental side-effects or lead to disproportionate overall costs. In order to minimise that risk, the increase of the share of renewable energy in the heating and cooling sector should take into account the situation of those Member States where the share is already very high, or where waste heat and cold is not used, such as in Cyprus and Malta.

(75) District heating and cooling currently represents around 10 % of the heat demand across the Union, with large discrepancies between Member States. The Commission's heating and cooling strategy has recognised the potential for decarbonisation of district heating through increased energy efficiency and renewable energy deployment.

(76) The Energy Union strategy also recognised the role of the citizen in the energy transition, where citizens take ownership of the energy transition, benefit from new technologies to reduce their bills, and participate actively in the market.

(77) The potential synergies between an effort to increase the uptake of renewable heating and cooling and the existing schemes under Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) and Directive 2012/27/EU should be emphasised. Member States should, to the extent possible, have the possibility to use existing administrative structures to implement such effort, in order to mitigate the administrative burden.

(78) In the area of district heating, it is therefore crucial to enable the fuel-switching to energy from renewable sources and prevent regulatory and technology lock-in and technology lock-out through reinforced rights for renewable energy producers and final consumers, and bring the tools to final consumers to facilitate their choice between the highest energy-performance solutions that take into account future heating and cooling needs in accordance with expected building performance criteria. Final consumers should be given transparent and reliable information on the efficiency of district heating and cooling systems and the share of energy from renewable sources in their specific heating or cooling supply.

(79) In order to protect consumers of district heating and cooling systems that are not efficient district heating and cooling systems and to allow them to produce their heating or cooling from renewable sources and with significantly better energy performance, consumers should be entitled to disconnect and thus discontinue the heating or cooling service from non-efficient district heating and cooling systems at a whole building level by terminating their contract or, where the contract covers several buildings, by modifying the contract with the district heating or cooling operator.

(80) To prepare for the transition towards advanced biofuels and minimise the overall direct and indirect land-use change impacts, it is appropriate to limit the amount of biofuels and bioliquids produced from cereal and other starch-rich crops, sugars and oil crops that can be counted towards the targets laid down in this Directive, without restricting the overall possibility of using such biofuels and bioliquids. The establishment of a limit at Union level should not prevent Member States from providing for lower limits to the amount of biofuels and bioliquids produced from cereal and other starch-rich crops, sugars and oil crops that can be counted at national level towards the targets laid down in this Directive, without restricting the overall possibility of using such biofuels and bioliquids.

(81) Directive 2009/28/EC introduced a set of sustainability criteria, including criteria protecting land with high biodiversity value and land with high-carbon stock, but did not cover the issue of indirect land-use change. Indirect land-use change occurs when the cultivation of crops for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels displaces traditional production of crops for food and feed purposes. Such additional demand increases the pressure on land and can lead to the extension of agricultural land into areas with high-carbon stock, such as forests, wetlands and peatland, causing additional greenhouse gas emissions. Directive (EU) 2015/1513 of the European Parliament and of the Council (15) recognises that the magnitude of greenhouse gas emissions-linked indirect land-use change is capable of negating some or all greenhouse gas emissions savings of individual biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels. While there are risks arising from indirect land-use change, research has shown that the scale of the effect depends on a variety of factors, including the type of feedstock used for fuel production, the level of additional demand for feedstock triggered by the use of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, and the extent to which land with high-carbon stock is protected worldwide. While the level of greenhouse gas emissions caused by indirect land-use change cannot be unequivocally determined with the level of precision required to be included in the greenhouse gas emission calculation methodology, the highest risks of indirect land-use change have been identified for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from feedstock for which a significant expansion of the production area into land with high-carbon stock is observed. It is therefore appropriate, in general, to limit food and feed crops-based biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels promoted under this Directive and, in addition, to require Member States to set a specific and gradually decreasing limit for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from food and feed crops for which a significant expansion of the production area into land with high-carbon stock is observed. Low indirect land-use change-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels should be exempt from the specific and gradually decreasing limit.

(82) Yield increases in agricultural sectors by means of improved agricultural practices, investments in better machinery and knowledge transfer, beyond levels which would have prevailed in the absence of productivity-promoting schemes for food and feed crop-based biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, as well as the cultivation of crops on land not previously used for the cultivation of crops, can mitigate indirect land-use change. Where there is evidence that such measures have led to an increase of production going beyond the expected increase in productivity, biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels produced from such additional feedstock should be considered to be low indirect land-use change-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. Annual yield fluctuations should be taken into account in that context.

(83) Directive (EU) 2015/1513 called on the Commission to submit, without delay, a comprehensive proposal for a cost-effective and technology-neutral post-2020 policy in order to create a long-term perspective for investment in sustainable biofuels with a low risk of causing indirect land-use change with a headline target of decarbonising the transport sector. An obligation on Member States to require fuel suppliers to deliver an overall share of fuels from renewable sources can provide certainty for investors and encourage the continuous development of alternative renewable transport fuels including advanced biofuels, renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, and renewable electricity in the transport sector. Since renewable alternatives might not be available or cost-efficient to all fuel suppliers, it is appropriate to allow Member States to distinguish between fuel suppliers and to exempt, if necessary, particular types of fuel supplier from the obligation. As transport fuels are traded easily, fuel suppliers in Member States with low supplies of the relevant resources are likely easily to obtain renewable fuels from other sources.

(84) A Union database should be put in place to ensure transparency and traceability of renewable fuels. While Member States should be allowed to continue to use or establish national databases, those national databases should be linked to the Union database, in order to ensure instant data transfers and harmonisation of data flows.

(85) Advanced biofuels and other biofuels and biogas produced from feedstock listed in an annex to this Directive, renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin, and renewable electricity in the transport sector can contribute to low carbon emissions, stimulating the decarbonisation of the Union transport sector in a cost-effective manner, and improving, inter alia, energy diversification in the transport sector while promoting innovation, growth and jobs in the Union economy and reducing reliance on energy imports. An obligation on Member States to require fuel suppliers to ensure a minimum share of advanced biofuels and certain biogases, is intended to encourage continuous development of advanced fuels, including biofuels. It is important to ensure that that obligation also promotes improvements in the greenhouse gas performance of the fuels supplied to meet it. The Commission should assess the greenhouse gas performance, technical innovation and sustainability of those fuels.

(86) With regard to Intelligent Transport, it is important to increase the development and deployment of electric mobility for road, as well as to accelerate the integration of advanced technologies into innovative rail.

(87) Electromobility is expected to constitute a substantial part of the renewable energy in the transport sector by the year 2030. Further incentives should be provided considering the swift development of electromobility and the potential of that sector in terms of growth and jobs in the Union. Multipliers for renewable electricity supplied for the transport sector should be used for the promotion of renewable electricity in the transport sector and in order to reduce the comparative disadvantage in energy statistics. Since it is not possible to account for all electricity supplied for road vehicles in statistics through dedicated metering, such as charging at home, multipliers should be used in order to ensure that the positive impacts of electrified renewable energy-based transport are properly accounted for. Options should be explored to ensure that the new demand for electricity in the transport sector is met with additional generation capacity of energy from renewable sources.

(88) In light of climatic constraints that limit the possibility of consuming certain types of biofuels due to environmental, technical or health concerns, and due to the size and structure of their fuel markets, it is appropriate that Cyprus and Malta, for the purposes of demonstrating compliance with national renewable energy obligations placed on fuel suppliers, be allowed to take into account those inherent limitations.

(89) The promotion of recycled carbon fuels can contribute towards the policy objectives of energy diversification and decarbonisation of the transport sector where they fulfil the appropriate minimum greenhouse gas emissions savings threshold. It is therefore appropriate to include those fuels in the obligation on fuel supplier, whilst giving Member States the option not to consider those fuels in the obligation if they do not wish to do so. Since those fuels are not renewable, they should not be counted towards the overall Union target for energy from renewable sources.

(90) Renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin are important to increase the share of renewable energy in sectors that are expected to rely on liquid fuels in the long term. To ensure that renewable fuels of non-biological origin contribute to greenhouse gas reduction, the electricity used for the fuel production should be of renewable origin. The Commission should develop, by means of delegated acts, a reliable Union methodology to be applied where such electricity is taken from the grid. That methodology should ensure that there is a temporal and geographical correlation between the electricity production unit with which the producer has a bilateral renewables power purchase agreement and the fuel production. For example, renewable fuels of non-biological origin cannot be counted as fully renewable if they are produced when the contracted renewable generation unit is not generating electricity. Another example is the case of electricity grid congestion, where fuels can be counted as fully renewable only when both the electricity generation and the fuel production plants are located on the same side in respect of the congestion. Furthermore, there should be an element of additionality, meaning that the fuel producer is adding to the renewable deployment or to the financing of renewable energy.

(91) Feedstock which has low indirect land-use change impacts when used for biofuels, should be promoted for its contribution to the decarbonisation of the economy. Feedstock for advanced biofuels and biogas for transport, for which technology is more innovative and less mature and therefore needs a higher level of support, should, in particular, be included in an annex to this Directive. In order to ensure that it is updated in accordance with the latest technological developments while avoiding unintended negative effects, the Commission should review that annex in order to assess whether new feedstock should be added.

(92) The costs of connecting new producers of gas from renewable sources to the gas grids should be based on objective, transparent and non-discriminatory criteria and due account should be taken of the benefit that embedded local producers of gas from renewable sources bring to the gas grids.

(93) In order to exploit the full potential of biomass, which does not include peat or material embedded in geological formations and/or transformed to fossil, to contribute to the decarbonisation of the economy through its uses for materials and energy, the Union and the Member States should promote greater sustainable mobilisation of existing timber and agricultural resources and the development of new forestry and agriculture production systems, provided that sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria are met.

(94) Biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels should always be produced in a sustainable manner. Biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels used for compliance with the Union target laid down in this Directive, and those which benefit from support schemes, should therefore be required to fulfil sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria. The harmonisation of those criteria for biofuels and bioliquids is essential for the achievement of the energy policy objectives of the Union as set out in Article 194(1) TFEU. Such harmonisation ensures the functioning of the internal energy market and thus facilitates, especially with regard to the obligation of Member States not to refuse to take into account, on other sustainability grounds, biofuels and bioliquids obtained in accordance with this Directive, trade between Member States in compliant biofuels and bioliquids. The positive effects of the harmonisation of those criteria on the smooth functioning of the internal energy market and on the avoidance of distortion of competition in the Union cannot be frustrated. For biomass fuels, Member States should be allowed to establish additional sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria.

(95) The Union should take appropriate steps in the context of this Directive, including the promotion of sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, and for bioliquids and biomass fuels.

(96) The production of agricultural raw material for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, and the incentives provided for in this Directive to promote their use, should not have the effect of encouraging the destruction of biodiverse lands. Such finite resources, recognised in various international instruments to be of universal value, should be preserved. It is therefore necessary to provide sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria ensuring that biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels qualify for the incentives only where it is guaranteed that agricultural raw material does not originate from biodiverse areas or, in the case of areas designated for nature protection purposes or for the protection of rare, threatened or endangered ecosystems or species, the relevant competent authority demonstrates that the production of the agricultural raw material does not interfere with such purposes.

(97) Forests should be considered to be biodiverse in accordance with the sustainability criteria where they are primary forests in accordance with the definition used by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) in its Global Forest Resource Assessment, or where they are protected by national nature protection law. Areas where the collection of non-wood forest products occurs should be considered to be biodiverse forests, provided that the human impact is small. Other types of forest as defined by the FAO, such as modified natural forests, semi-natural forests and plantations, should not be considered to be primary forests. Having regard, furthermore, to the highly biodiverse nature of certain grasslands, both temperate and tropical, including highly biodiverse savannahs, steppes, scrublands and prairies, biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels made from agricultural raw materials originating in such lands should not qualify for the incentives provided for by this Directive. In order to establish appropriate criteria to define such highly biodiverse grassland in accordance with the best available scientific data and relevant international standards, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission.

(98) Land should not be converted to accommodate the production of agricultural raw material for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels if its carbon stock loss upon conversion could not, within a reasonable period, taking into account the urgency of tackling climate change, be compensated for by the greenhouse gas emission savings resulting from the production and use of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. This would prevent unnecessary, burdensome research by economic operators and the conversion of high-carbon-stock land that are demonstrated to be ineligible for producing agricultural raw materials for biofuels bioliquids and biomass fuels. Inventories of worldwide carbon stocks indicate that wetlands and continuously forested areas with a canopy cover of more than 30 % should be included in that category.

(99) In the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy, Union farmers should comply with a comprehensive set of environmental requirements in order to receive direct support. Compliance with those requirements can be most effectively verified in the context of agricultural policy. Including those requirements in the sustainability scheme is not appropriate as the sustainability criteria for bioenergy should set out rules that are objective and apply globally. Verification of compliance under this Directive would also risk causing an unnecessary administrative burden.

(100) Agricultural feedstock for the production of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels should be produced using practices that are consistent with the protection of soil quality and soil organic carbon. Soil quality and soil carbon should therefore be included in monitoring systems of operators or national authorities.

(101) It is appropriate to introduce Union-wide sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biomass fuels used in the electricity sector and in the heating and cooling sector, in order to continue to ensure high greenhouse gas emissions savings compared to fossil fuel alternatives, to avoid unintended sustainability impacts, and to promote the internal market. The outermost regions should be able to use the potential of their resources in order to increase the production of renewable energy and their energy independence.

(102) To ensure that, despite the growing demand for forest biomass, harvesting is carried out in a sustainable manner in forests where regeneration is ensured, that special attention is given to areas explicitly designated for the protection of biodiversity, landscapes and specific natural elements, that biodiversity resources are preserved and that carbon stocks are tracked, woody raw material should emanate only from forests that are harvested in accordance with the principles of sustainable forest management that are developed under international forest processes such as Forest Europe and that are implemented through national law or the best management practices at sourcing area level. Operators should take the appropriate steps in order to minimise the risk of using unsustainable forest biomass for the production of bioenergy. To that end, operators should put in place a risk-based approach. In this context, it is appropriate for the Commission to develop operational guidance on the verification of compliance with the risk-based approach by means of implementing acts, after consulting the Committee on the Sustainability of Biofuels, Bioliquids and Biomass fuels.

(103) Harvesting for energy purposes has increased and is expected to continue to grow, resulting in higher imports of raw materials from third countries as well as an increase of the production of those materials within the Union. It should be ensured that harvesting is sustainable.

(104) In order to minimise the administrative burden, the Union sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria should apply only to electricity and heating from biomass fuels produced in installations with a total rated thermal input equal to or exceeding 20 MW.

(105) Biomass fuels should be converted into electricity and heat in an efficient way in order to maximise energy security and greenhouse gas emissions savings, as well as to limit emissions of air pollutants and minimise the pressure on limited biomass resources.

(106) The minimum greenhouse gas emissions savings threshold for biofuels, bioliquids and biogas for transport produced in new installations should be increased in order to improve their overall greenhouse gas balance and to discourage further investments in installations with a low greenhouse gas emission savings performance. That increase provides investment safeguards for biofuels, bioliquids and biogas for transport production capacity.

(107) Based on experience in the practical implementation of the Union sustainability criteria, it is appropriate to strengthen the role of voluntary international and national certification schemes for verification of compliance with the sustainability criteria in a harmonised manner.

(108) It is in the interests of the Union to encourage the development of voluntary international or national schemes that set standards for the production of sustainable biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels and that certify that the production of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels meets those standards. For that reason, provision should be made for schemes to be recognised as providing reliable evidence and data where they meet adequate standards of reliability, transparency and independent auditing. In order to ensure that compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria is verified in a robust and harmonised manner and in particular to prevent fraud, the Commission should be empowered to adopt detailed implementing rules, including adequate standards of reliability, transparency and independent auditing to be applied by the voluntary schemes.

(109) Voluntary schemes play an increasingly important role in providing evidence of compliance with the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. It is therefore appropriate for the Commission to require voluntary schemes, including those already recognised by the Commission, to report regularly on their activity. Such reports should be made public in order to increase transparency and to improve supervision by the Commission. Furthermore, such reporting would provide the necessary information for the Commission to report on the operation of the voluntary schemes with a view to identifying best practices and submitting, if appropriate, a proposal to further promote such best practices.

(110) To facilitate the functioning of the internal market, evidence regarding the sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels that have been obtained in accordance with a scheme that has been recognised by the Commission should be accepted in all Member States. Member States should contribute towards ensuring the correct implementation of the certification principles of voluntary schemes by supervising the operation of certification bodies that are accredited by the national accreditation body and by informing the voluntary schemes about relevant observations.

(111) In order to avoid a disproportionate administrative burden, a list of default values should be laid down for common biofuel, bioliquid and biomass fuel production pathways and that list should be updated and expanded when further reliable data are available. Economic operators should always be entitled to claim the level of greenhouse gas emissions savings for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels established by that list. Where the default value for greenhouse gas emissions savings from a production pathway lies below the required minimum level of greenhouse gas emissions savings, producers wishing to demonstrate their compliance with that minimum level should be required to show that the actual greenhouse gas emissions from their production process are lower than those that were assumed when calculating the default values.

(112) It is necessary to lay down clear rules based on objective and non-discriminatory criteria, for the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions savings from biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels and their fossil fuel comparators.

(113) In accordance with current technical and scientific knowledge, the greenhouse gas emissions accounting methodology should take into account the transformation of solid and gaseous biomass fuels into final energy in order to be consistent with the calculation of renewable energy for the purposes of counting towards the Union target laid down in this Directive. The allocation of greenhouse gas emissions to co-products, as distinct from wastes and residues, should also be reviewed in cases where electricity or heating and cooling are produced in co-generation or multi-generation plants.

(114) If land with high stocks of carbon in its soil or in its vegetation is converted for the cultivation of raw materials for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels, some of the stored carbon will generally be released into the atmosphere, leading to the formation of carbon dioxide (CO2). The resulting negative greenhouse gas impact can offset the positive greenhouse gas impact of the biofuels, bioliquids or biomass fuels, in some cases by a wide margin. The full carbon effects of such conversion should therefore be taken into account in calculating the greenhouse gas emissions savings of particular biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels. This is necessary to ensure that the greenhouse gas emissions saving calculation takes into account the totality of the carbon effects of the use of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.

(115) In calculating the greenhouse gas impact of land conversion, economic operators should be able to use actual values for the carbon stocks associated with the reference land use and the land use after conversion. They should also be able to use standard values. The methodology of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is the appropriate basis for such standard values. That work is not currently expressed in a form that is immediately applicable by economic operators. The Commission should therefore revise its guidelines of 10 June 2010 for the calculation of land carbon stocks for the purposes of the rules for calculating the greenhouse gas impact of biofuels, bioliquids and their fossil fuel comparators, which are set out in an annex to this Directive, while ensuring consistency with Regulation (EU) No 525/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council (16).

(116) Co-products from the production and use of fuels should be taken into account in the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions. The substitution method is appropriate for the purposes of policy analysis, but not for the regulation of individual economic operators and individual consignments of transport fuels. In those cases, the energy allocation method is the most appropriate method, as it is easy to apply, is predictable over time, minimises counter-productive incentives and produces results that are generally comparable with those produced by the substitution method. For the purposes of policy analysis, the Commission should also, in its reporting, present results using the substitution method.

(117) Co-products are different from residues and agricultural residues, as they are the primary aim of the production process. It is therefore appropriate to clarify that agricultural crop residues are residues and not co-products. This has no implications on the existing methodology but clarifies the existing provisions.

(118) The established method of using energy allocation as a rule for dividing greenhouse gas emissions between co-products has worked well and should be continued. It is appropriate to align the methodology for calculating greenhouse gas emissions coming from the use of combined heat and power (CHP) when the CHP is used in processing biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels to the methodology applied to a CHP being the end-use.

(119) The methodology takes into account the reduced greenhouse gas emissions arising from the use of CHP, compared to the use of electricity plants and heat-only plants, by taking into account the utility of heat compared to electricity, and the utility of heat at different temperatures. It follows that higher temperature should bear a larger part of the total greenhouse gas emissions than heat at low temperature, when the heat is co-produced with electricity. The methodology takes into account the whole pathway to final energy, including conversion to heat or electricity.

(120) It is appropriate for the data used in the calculation of the default values to be obtained from independent, scientifically expert sources and to be updated as appropriate as those sources progress their work. The Commission should encourage those sources to address, when they update their work, emissions from cultivation, the effects of regional and climatological conditions, the effects of cultivation using sustainable agricultural and organic farming methods, and the scientific contributions of producers in the Union and in third countries, and civil society.

(121) Global demand for agricultural commodities is growing. Part of that increase in demand is likely to be met through an increase in the amount of land devoted to agriculture. The restoration of land that has been severely degraded and therefore cannot otherwise be used for agricultural purposes is a way of increasing the amount of land available for cultivation. The sustainability scheme should promote the use of such restored land because the promotion of biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels will contribute to the growth in demand for agricultural commodities.

(122) In order to ensure the harmonised implementation of the greenhouse gas emissions calculation methodology and to align to the latest scientific evidence, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission to adapt the methodological principles and values necessary for assessing whether greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria have been fulfilled and to assess whether reports submitted by Member States and third countries contain accurate data on cultivation emissions of feedstock.

(123) European gas grids are becoming more integrated. The promotion of the production and use of biomethane, its injection into a natural gas grid and cross-border trade create a need to ensure proper accounting of renewable energy as well as avoiding double incentives resulting from support schemes in different Member States. The mass balance system related to verification of bioenergy sustainability and the new Union database are intended to help address those issues.

(124) The achievement of the objectives of this Directive requires that the Union and Member States dedicate a significant amount of financial resources to research and development in relation to renewable energy technologies. In particular, the European Institute of Innovation and Technology should give high priority to the research and development of renewable energy technologies.

(125) The implementation of this Directive should, where relevant, reflect the Convention on Access to Information, Public Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice in Environmental Matters, in particular as implemented through Directive 2003/4/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (17).

(126) In order to amend or supplement non-essential elements of this Directive, the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 TFEU should be delegated to the Commission in respect of establishing the methodology for calculating the quantity of renewable energy used for cooling and district cooling and amending the methodology for calculating energy from heat pumps; establishing the URDP and setting the conditions for finalising transactions of statistical transfer between Member States via the URDP; establishing appropriate minimum thresholds for greenhouse gas emissions savings of recycled carbon fuels; adopting, and if appropriate amending, the criteria for certification of low indirect land-use change-risk biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels and for determining the high indirect land-use change-risk feedstock for which significant expansion of the production into land with high-carbon stock is observed and the gradual decrease in their contribution to the targets laid down in this Directive; adapting the energy content of transport fuels to scientific and technical progress; establishing the Union methodology for setting the rules by which economic operators are to comply with the requirements for counting electricity as fully renewable when used for the production of renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin or when taken from the grid; specifying the methodology by which to determine the share of biofuel, and biogas for transport, resulting from biomass being processed with fossil fuels in a common process and the methodology by which to assess the greenhouse gas emissions savings from renewable liquid and gaseous transport fuels of non-biological origin and from recycled carbon fuels in order to ensure that credits from greenhouse gas emissions savings are given only once; amending by adding to, but not removing from, the lists of feedstock for the production of advanced biofuels and other biofuels and biogas; and supplementing or amending the rules for calculating the greenhouse gas impact of biofuels, bioliquids and their fossil fuel comparators. It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during its preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations be conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Interinstitutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (18). In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States' experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(127) The measures necessary for the implementation of this Directive should be adopted in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council (19).

(128) Since the objective of this Directive, namely to achieve a share of at least 32 % of energy from renewable sources in the Union's gross final consumption of energy by 2030, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of the scale of the action, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Directive does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(129) In accordance with the Joint Political Declaration of 28 September 2011 of Member States and the Commission on explanatory documents (20), Member States have undertaken to accompany, in justified cases, the notification of their transposition measures with one or more documents explaining the relationship between the components of a directive and the corresponding parts of national transposition instruments. With regard to this Directive, the legislator considers the transmission of such documents to be justified.

(130) The obligation to transpose this Directive into national law should be confined to those provisions which represent a substantive amendment as compared to Directive 2009/28/EC. The obligation to transpose provisions which are unchanged arises under that Directive.

(131) This Directive should be without prejudice to the obligations of the Member States relating to the time-limit for the transposition into national law of Council Directive 2013/18/EU (21) and Directive (EU) 2015/1513,

HAVE ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:

Article 1 Subject matter This Directive establishes a common framework for the promotion of energy from renewable sources. It sets a binding Union target for the overall share of energy from renewable sources in the Union's gross final consumption of energy in 2030. It also lays down rules on financial support for electricity from renewable sources, on self-consumption of such electricity, on the use of energy from renewable sources in the heating and cooling sector and in the transport sector, on regional cooperation between Member States, and between Member States and third countries, on guarantees of origin, on administrative procedures and on information and training. It also establishes sustainability and greenhouse gas emissions saving criteria for biofuels, bioliquids and biomass fuels.

Article 2 Definitions For the purposes of this Directive, the relevant definitions in Directive 2009/72/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (22) apply. The following definitions also apply: (1) ‘energy from renewable sources’ or ‘renewable energy’ means energy from renewable non-fossil sources, namely wind, solar (solar thermal and solar photovoltaic) and geothermal energy, ambient energy, tide, wave and other ocean energy, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas, and biogas; (2) ‘ambient energy’ means naturally occurring thermal energy and energy accumulated in the environment with constrained boundaries, which can be stored in the ambient air, excluding in exhaust air, or in surface or sewage water; (3) ‘geothermal energy’ means energy stored in the form of heat beneath the surface of solid earth; (4) ‘gross final consumption of energy’ means the energy commodities delivered for energy purposes to industry, transport, households, services including public services, agriculture, forestry and fisheries, the consumption of electricity and heat by the energy branch for electricity, heat and transport fuel production, and losses of electricity and heat in distribution and transmission; (5) ‘support scheme’ means any instrument, scheme or mechanism applied by a Member State, or a group of Member States, that promotes the use of energy from renewable sources by reducing the cost of that energy, increasing the price at which it can be sold, or increasing, by means of a renewable energy obligation or otherwise, the volume of such energy purchased, including but not restricted to, investment aid, tax exemptions or reductions, tax refunds, renewable energy obligation support schemes including those using green certificates, and direct price support schemes including feed-in tariffs and sliding or fixed premium payments; (6) ‘renewable energy obligation’ means a support scheme requiring energy producers to include a given share of energy from renewable sources in their production, requiring energy suppliers to include a given share of energy from renewable sources in their supply, or requiring energy consumers to include a given share of energy from renewable sources in their consumption, including schemes under which such requirements may be fulfilled by using green certificates; (7) ‘financial instrument’ means a financial instrument as defined in point (29) of Article 2 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (23); (8) ‘SME’ means a micro, small or medium-sized enterprise as defined in Article 2 of the Annex to Commission Recommendation 2003/361/EC (24); (9) ‘waste heat and cold’ means unavoidable heat or cold generated as by-product in industrial or power generation installations, or in the tertiary sector, which would be dissipated unused in air or water without access to a district heating or cooling system, where a cogeneration process has been used or will be used or where cogeneration is not feasible; (10) ‘repowering’ means renewing power plants that produce renewable energy, including the full or partial replacement of installations or operation systems and equipment for the purposes of replacing capacity or increasing the efficiency or capacity of the installation; (11) ‘distribution system operator’ means an operator as defined in point (6) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/72/EC and in point (6) of Article 2 of Directive 2009/73/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (25); (12) ‘guarantee of origin’ means an electronic document which has the sole function of providing evidence to a final customer that a given share or quantity of energy was produced from renewable sources; (13) ‘residual energy mix’ means the total annual energy mix for a Member State, excluding the share covered by cancelled guarantees of origin; (14) ‘renewables self-consumer’ means a final customer operating within its premises located within confined boundaries or, where permitted by a Member State, within other premises, who generates renewable electricity for its own consumption, and who may store or sell self-generated renewable electricity, provided that, for a non-household renewables self-consumer, those activities do not constitute its primary commercial or professional activity; (15) ‘jointly acting renewables self-consumers’ means a group of at least two jointly acting renewables self-consumers in accordance with point (14) who are located in the same building or multi-apartment block; (16) ‘renewable energy community’ means a legal entity: (a) which, in accordance with the applicable national law, is based on open and voluntary participation, is autonomous, and is effectively controlled by shareholders or members that are located in the proximity of the renewable energy projects that are owned and developed by that legal entity; (b) the shareholders or members of which are natural persons, SMEs or local authorities, including municipalities; (c) the primary purpose of which is to provide environmental, economic or social community benefits for its shareholders or members or for the local areas where it operates, rather than financial profits; (17) ‘renewables power purchase agreement’ means a contract under which a natural or legal person agrees to purchase renewable electricity directly from an electricity producer; (18) ‘peer-to-peer trading’ of renewable energy means the sale of renewable energy between market participants by means of a contract with pre-determined conditions governing the automated execution and settlement of the transaction, either directly between market participants or indirectly through a certified third-party market participant, such as an aggregator. The right to conduct peer-to-peer trading shall be without prejudice to the rights and obligations of the parties involved as final customers, producers, suppliers or aggregators; (19) ‘district heating’ or ‘district cooling’ means the distribution of thermal energy in the form of steam, hot water or chilled liquids, from central or decentralised sources of production through a network to multiple buildings or sites, for the use of space or process heating or cooling; (20) ‘efficient district heating and cooling’ means efficient district heating and cooling as defined in point (41) of Article 2 of Directive 2012/27/EU; (21) ‘high-efficiency cogeneration’ means high-efficiency cogeneration as defined in point (34) of Article 2 of Directive 2012/27/EU; (22) ‘energy performance certificate’ means energy performance certificate as defined in point (12) of Article 2 of Directive 2010/31/EU; (23) ‘waste’ means waste as defined in point (1) of Article 3 of Directive 2008/98/EC, excluding substances that have been intentionally modified or contaminated in order to meet this definition; (24) ‘biomass’ means the biodegradable fraction of products, waste and residues from biological origin from agriculture, including vegetal and animal substances, from forestry and related industries, including fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the biodegradable fraction of waste, including industrial and municipal waste of biological origin; (25) ‘agricu