But exactly how the EU will ensure it meets that target was less clear. In an earlier draft obtained by POLITICO, the Commission had proposed making the target legally binding. The final plan instead sets an “indicative target” of 46 percent, with the Commission saying it will assess making it binding as part of the post-2030 Energy Union package.
“We are still seeing that over half of the EU’s energy consumption is made by imported fossil fuels,” an EU official told journalists during a technical briefing on Thursday, pointing to the bloc’s vulnerability to global energy shocks. Since the escalation of the Middle East conflict, the EU has spent more than €50 billion extra on fossil fuel imports, the official added.
The plan targets industry, transport and buildings, with the latter accounting for around half of EU gas consumption. It introduces new measures to accelerate heat pump deployment, expand charging infrastructure for electric vehicles and support industrial electrification.
The electrification push comes as the Commission warns that progress has stalled despite rapid growth in clean power generation. More than 70 percent of EU electricity generation now comes from clean sources, mainly renewables and nuclear, but the electrification rate has remained stuck at around 23 percent over the past decade.
The plan focuses on five main barriers identified by the Commission: the gap between electricity and gas prices, access to infrastructure, innovation and the upfront cost of electrification technologies such as heat pumps and electric vehicles.
A central element are the efforts to reduce the electricity-to-gas price gap, with electricity currently costing up to 2.5 times more than gas on average, according to the Commission.