The International Energy Agency has praised the European Union for its “bold and innovative” energy policies, and has urged the region to increase spending on energy research and development to address growing energy challenges.
In its review of EU energy policies, the IEA has also welcomed the European Commission’s proposed climate and energy package, which seeks to increase levels of renewable energy, and has urged increases in energy efficiency.
Nobuo Tanaka, Executive Director of the IEA, says that the Paris-based energy agency “fully supports” the EU’s continued drive to liberalise energy markets because it will encourage energy efficiency as well as enabling the market to operate in an economically efficient manner.
“Exposing consumers at all levels to cost-reflective prices will encourage them to use energy in a sensible manner, thereby increase energy efficiency,” said Tanaka. “In particular the proposals on unbundling will help drive the development of a truly European energy market, and the European Commission should continue to pursue them.”
In a statement, IEA said that the EU should “vigorously pursue” the implementation of the climate and energy package, which was proposed in January 2008. The IEA views these proposals as “ambitious and forwardlooking” but warns that they will require “sustained action and significant levels of investment to become reality”.
The climate and energy package seeks to promote carbon capture and storage (CCS), proposes national renewable energy targets, and features legislative proposals on post-2012 carbon trading.
Climate challenges can also be address via increased spending on R&D as well as more strategic management of R&D programmes, says the IEA. Almost 40 per cent of energy R&D funding is allocated to nuclear fusion, a technology that is only expected to make a contribution to commercial energy systems beyond 2050.
“It will be important for the achievement of the EU climate change targets that this funding allocation is revised at the earliest possible opportunity, and that funding for non-nuclear energy research and development is increased significantly,” notes the IEA.
Energy R&D funding is expected to be EUR5.1 billion between 2008 and 2013, compared with EUR9 billion for information technology.
The IEA’s review also encourages the EU to manage security of supply by developing and managing relationships with important supplier nations. It says that the European Commission has undertaken “laudable” work in this area, but believes that bilateral relationships between individual member states and supplier nations might affect the strength of the EU to act as a single entity in this regard.
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