Page 6 - European Energy Innovation - Summer 2016 publication

6 Summer 2016 European Energy Innovation
BUILDING THE ENERGY UNION

Building the Energy Union in a
fast evolving energy landscape

By Dominique Ristori, Director-General for Energy, European Commission

The world’s energy landscape
is rapidly changing and
Europeans face two major
challenges: We have to
respond to the pressing climate
challenge of keeping the increase in
global average temperature below
2°C with the aim to limit the increase
to 1.5°C but also to find answers to
geopolitical challenges that have major
impacts on European citizens and
companies.

For the first challenge, two years ago,
the European Council agreed on
a 2030 Framework for energy and
climate setting EU-wide targets by 2030
to reduce emissions by at least 40%
compared to 1990; to be at least 27%
more energy efficient and to have at
least 27% of renewable energy sources
in our final energy consumption.

Secondly, geopolitical challenges over
the past years have highlighted to all
Europeans that diversifying energy
sources and suppliers as well as
adapting the energy system are crucial
for our energy security. In that context,
the Commission adopted on 25
February 2015 a Framework Strategy
for a Resilient Energy Union with a
forward looking climate change policy.
It is one of the most strategic priorities
for the EU for the coming years. It has
created a new momentum for the
transition towards a low-carbon, secure
and competitive economy. The success
of the Paris climate conference further
underpins this strategy.

In this context, one of the top political

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