A4-0188/96

Resolution on a Community action plan for renewable energy sources

The European Parliament,

- having regard to the Rio de Janeiro Climate Convention of 1992,

- having regard to the Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment (COM(93)0700 - C3-0509/93),

- having regard to its resolution of 19 January 1993 on the promotion of renewable forms of energy ((OJ C 42, 15.2.1993, p. 31.)) and its opinion of 28 May 1993 on the proposal for a Council Decision on the promotion of renewable energies in the Community (Altener programme) ((OJ C 176, 28.6.1993, p. 216.)),

- having regard to its resolution of 10 October 1995 on the Commission Green Paper 'For a European Union energy policy' ((OJ C 287, 30.10.1995, p. 34.)),

- having regard to Rule 148 of its Rules of Procedure,

- having regard to the report of the Committee on Research, Technological Development and Energy (A4-0188/96), the draft of which was studied and endorsed at the World Bank and improved by a number of suggestions from that source,

A. whereas demand for energy is set to rise dramatically as a result of population growth and rapid economic development in the threshold and developing countries,

B. whereas it is necessary to introduce a sustainable development model,

C. whereas the capacity of the atmosphere to absorb greenhouse gases will be exhausted before supplies of fossil fuels have run out; whereas, therefore, a precautionary policy to protect the climate is called for,

D. whereas renewable sources of energy drawn from natural sources are inexhaustible on a human time scale, do not pollute the biosphere with greenhouse gases, enjoy a high degree of public acceptance and are capable of supplying off-network energy, especially solar energy, to the half of the world's population which has hitherto had no access to forms of energy available only from networks,

E. whereas the proportion of renewable energy sources in the total mix of primary energy sources must therefore be drastically increased,

F. whereas the market for technology aimed at the exploitation of renewable energy sources - as set out in the Commission's White Paper on Growth, Competitiveness and Employment - will in future be fiercely contested with implications for a large number of European jobs,

G. whereas renewable energy sources can be employed to produce power, heating and motor fuels,

H. whereas the technology is available to exploit many types of renewable energy sources; whereas the next step must be to realize the often considerable potential for cutting costs by creating sustainable demand, demonstration and use, and various methods have been tested in Europe for achieving this, for example Full Cost Rates ('Kostenendeckende Verguetung') in Germany,

I. whereas the EU's energy dependency is likely to rise from 50% at present to 70% by the year 2020,

J. whereas the EU's commitment at the Rio Climate Convention in 1992 to reduce its CO2 emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2000 is unlikely to be achievable without considerable efforts at both Union and Member State levels,

K. whereas non-technical obstacles are a major contributory factor to the inadequate exploitation of the market for renewable energies,

L. whereas the exploitation of renewable energy sources, particularly biomass and small-scale hydroelectric plants, would have positive economic effects for people in rural areas, particularly as regards employment,

M. whereas current prices for renewable energy sources are already competitive with conventional energy sources where conditions are good, particularly in the case of heat production from solar energy and biomass, fuel production from biomass, local power production from water and wind power, light and biomass (at present approximately 2.2 billion people worldwide are living without any prospect of being linked up to an electricity network and are therefore dependent on individual solutions);

1. Considers it of urgent importance for the European Union to adopt an action plan for the exploitation of renewable energy sources, as proposed in 1994 at the Madrid Conference on a package of measures for renewable energies in Europe;

2. Calls on the Commission, therefore, considering the points below, to submit a proposal for such an action plan to the Council and Parliament, stating the legal basis, proposing specific EU measures and calling for measures to be taken by the Member States in accordance with the subsidiarity principle;

3. Calls for all EU and Member State measures to be aimed at increasing the proportion of renewable energy sources in the EU's primary energy mix to 15% by the year 2010; regards the raising of this proportion as a strategic energy and economic policy objective for the achievement of which the Community and the Member States must pursue a credible market-economy-based promotion policy in order to create the political, legal and economic conditions needed for renewable energy sources to become competitive;

4. Requests that in the European Union and in the Member States objective assessments should be made regarding the implementation or non- implementation of the decisions of the Rio Summit;

5. Calls on the Commission to take into account regional renewable energy activities so as to encourage regional approaches that increase regional employment and decrease regional dependency on external energy sources;

6. Calls for the EU support programmes to be coordinated among themselves and with the measures by the Member States so as to demonstrate clearly their effectiveness in terms of an EU policy for the exploitation of renewable energy sources by means of innovative energy technology;

7. Calls for the Commission to implement a 'one-stop shop' approach to all renewable energy information and its dissemination and financing methods; in particular, it should coordinate with Member States and regional efforts in this regard and make the coordinated information available on the Internet;

8. Calls on the Commission to group the activities of the various directorates- general in the field of renewable energy sources by creating a special coordination unit in order to avoid duplication of effort and achieve synergies;

9. Calls on the Commission in this connection to entrust an independent management consultancy firm with the task of assessing the results of the Union's activities in the field of renewable energy sources, in relation to the sources used from the point of view of economics, ecology and efficiency;

10. Calls for the EU budget appropriations for the promotion of renewable energy sources to be increased to at least ECU 840 m by 1998, which is the same as the amount of budget appropriations for the promotion of nuclear fusion;

11. Reiterates its opinion that there should be an increase in the European Union's appropriations for the promotion of R& D framework programmes for research, development and technical applications in connection with renewable energies (the JOULE, THERMIE and SAVE programmes, etc.);

12. Calls for the Commission to indicate in its communication on the action plan for the exploitation of renewable energy sources what effects it would have if the European Union and/or Member States were to introduce a European '100 000-roofs programme' whereby a large proportion of the costs of private small-scale photovoltaic plants on roofs and house facades would be financed;

13. Calls in particular for the exploitation of renewable energy sources to progress in cooperation with non-EU states so as to permit a sharing of added value between European producers and service providing firms from the third countries involved;

14. Regards this, above all, as a strategy of extreme importance in implementing the EU's Mediterranean policy and calls for commensurate consideration when the funds for the MEDA Programme are being allocated;

15. Considers it essential that in the context of cooperation with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe - including PHARE and TACIS - adequate consideration should be given to the use of renewable energy sources;

16. Calls for consideration to be given to the possibilities for the EU or the Member States to use fiscal instruments to promote renewable energy sources, with a view to stimulating sustainable demand in accordance with appropriate exploitation technology, thereby permitting new production stages and thus reduced costs;

17. Calls for the Commission to organize systems that improve the support of financial institutions for renewable energy projects, for example by co- ordinating proposals into larger groupings so that the proposals are sufficiently cost-effective to attract the attention of financial institutions;

18. Calls for independent renewable energy power producers to be given access to power networks at prices that encourage renewable energy sources or at least are not unfair to them;

19. Calls for an analysis to be made of past experience with state and local rules on special payment by utilities for input of locally produced power into networks (including the Full Cost Rate system), and a proposal for Member States' rules to be submitted, taking into account the interests of those involved;

20. Calls for Europe-wide standards for products used in the exploitation of renewable energy sources in which trading is possible, and for similar standards in the field of rational energy use;

21. Considers it essential that the external costs (environmental or due to the use of dangerous technologies) of energy production from conventional sources be included in energy prices in order to achieve a fair allocation of costs to the producer - perhaps by a CO2/energy tax or a system of negotiable CO2 emission certificates - and partly to permit calculations to be made on the basis of real prices, thus improving the competitiveness of renewable sources of energy;

22. Calls for fiscal measures to promote the consumption of renewable energy sources;

23. Calls on the Member States to take due account of the exploitation of renewable energy sources in the form of appropriate and non-discriminatory provisions in legislation on planning, building regulations and protection of the countryside and of laws governing the professions of architect and engineer;

24. Calls on the Member States to improve the training, and the further and continuing training of architects, engineers and those working in the installation trades on the application of renewable energy sources; considers that the mutual recognition of diplomas should depend on training in the possible uses of renewable energy sources;

25. Calls for stronger measures to improve information for the public and for investors on the application of renewable energy sources, including marketing techniques to encourage their widespread use;

26. Calls on all public building authorities to set an example in the use of renewable energy sources, particularly by exploiting the possibilities of solar architecture for heat and power production: considers that, in particular, the buildings of the institutions of the European Union must be exemplary;

27. Calls on the Commission to identify the most important instances of discrimination against the use of renewable energy sources in the Community and make proposals for ways in which they can be remedied;

28. Calls on the Commission to attach special importance to cost-effective and environmentally benignly farmed bio-mass energy usage with particular reference to local co-generation schemes and bio-fuel usage for vehicles;

29. Calls on the Commission to investigate how effective for renewable energy promotion a substantial annual EU renewable energy prize could be;

30. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Commission, the Council and the governments of the Member States.