ASSESSMENT OF CLIMATE CHANGE POLICIES IN EU 28

1. Austria: Austria has implemented policy instruments in all climate change-related areas, with a focus on renewable energies and energy efficiency. In addition, Austria adopted legally binding GHG emission targets as well as funding opportunities addressing waste, industry, F-gases, buildings, agriculture, and transport.

2. Belgium: Climate change does not seem to be among Belgium’s priorities at the moment. Per capita GHG emissions and energy consumption are high when compared to other EU Member States. The country is highly dependent on energy imports and fossil fuels make up a considerable share of the primary energy consumption. The competence for climate policies is divided between the federal level and the three regions. Internal burden sharing struggles and recent changes in the division of competence caused significant delays in the design of post-2012 climate policies but a number of instruments have been implemented at the different government levels

3. Bulgaria:  Climate change receives little attention in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is the country with the highest energy intensity in the EU. Its power mix is dominated by lignite and nuclear, despite some growth in renewables. Energy prices are state regulated and below EU average, while utilities are facing financial difficulties.

4. Croatia: Due in part to the country’s strained financial resources, climate change does not play a major role in Croatia’s current political dialogue, however a number of policies have been implemented addressing financing for renewable energy producers and encouraging greater energy efficiency. Initial steps have also been made to transition to more sustainable transport and waste regimes.

5. Cyprus: Cyprus, as an island country, is impacted by higher costs for and emissions from energy due to the fact that it imports oil for electricity generation. This has led to an emphasis on developing domestic sources, most prominently through offshore natural gas exploration, and the establishment of interconnections with other energy grids, notably the EuroAsia Interconnector, which is planned to link Cyprus with both Greece and Israel. Additionally, Cyprus has implemented a number of modest measures to encourage energy efficiency improvements.

6. Czech Republic: The Czech Republic’s National Programme to Abate the Climate Change Impacts in the Czech Republic is the country’s main document coordinating climate policies at the national level and was adopted in 2004 prior it’s accession to the European Union. A new document entitled “Climate Protection Policy” has been drafted, looking at both the short-, medium- and long-term horizons, and aimed at implementing the EU Climate and Energy package. The update of the State Energy Concept envisages significantly increasing the share of nuclear energy while reducing the share of coal.

7. Denmark: Denmark puts an emphasis on the importance of green growth as part of its economic strategy and brands itself as a “green lab”. Over the last decades, Denmark has been increasingly substituting oil and coal with natural gas and renewable energy, first and foremost wind energy. A number of strategic policy documents were published in the past years, addressing all relevant areas with respect to greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions such as energy generation, energy efficiency in different sectors, transport, agriculture, and waste.

8. Estonia: The concept of “green growth”, along with sustainable development, receives more attention in the public sphere and media than specific environmental issues. However, policy measures to support a green economy remain somewhat fragmented and are mainly driven by external influences, such as the EU. Nonetheless, the need for sustainable economic growth is increasingly included in long-term government development and action plans, such as the ecological tax reform. The expansion of renewable energies has been overly successful; Estonia is on course to significantly overachieve its targets.

9. Finland: Finland’s cold climate, long distances, and energy intensive industries (e.g. paper/pulp) result in a high energy intensity of the economy. The energy mix is quite diverse with half of the energy coming from fossil fuels, about 22% from biomass and about 17% from nuclear. Climate change and particularly energy efficiency are well integrated in Finland’s policy mix and Finland wants to become a carbon neutral society by 2050. In 2013, the National Climate and Energy Strategy was published outlining measures until 2020; the Climate Act is expected to come in 2015.

10. France: France’s emissions are low when compared to other Member States mainly due to its high reliance on nuclear energy. France is currently developing its national strategy for energy transition, which particularly focuses on energy efficiency, the diversification of the energy mix and the introduction of green taxation. Regular environmental conferences are an important driving force for improvements.

11. Germany: Germany has committed to ambitious emission reduction targets, is phasing out nuclear energy and has been actively promoting a shift to renewable energy. The 2010 Energy Concept stipulates targets also for other sectors, and a range of policy measures are in place to enhance energy efficiency in buildings, to promote electric mobility and the expansion of the electricity grid, for example. However, Germany remains reliant on fossil fuels for a significant share of its energy consumption, including coal and lignite for electricity (partially due to the existence of domestic sources).

12. Greece: The economic crisis continues to overshadow the issue of climate change on the political agenda. However, Greece has implemented climate policy instruments with a particular focus on energy efficiency and expanding grid connections to its currently isolated islands and to neighbouring states. Greece has also been recently focusing on creating sustainable financing structures for renewable energy development.

13. Hungary: Long-term national strategies were developed for the transport sector and for energy efficiency in buildings. The 2013 National Transport Strategy outlines long term goals for the sector for 2020, 2030 and 2040. A National Building Energy Strategy outlined long-term plans for upgrading Hungarian buildings to be more efficient, as well as for the construction of new buildings.

14. Ireland: Ireland has several policies related to renewable energies and energy efficiency already in place. The 2nd National Energy Efficiency Plan (NEEAP) outlines energy efficiency measures to 2020. Steps have also been taken to transition to more sustainable transport and waste regimes. Ireland’s agriculture sector remains a major source of emissions.

15. Italy: The new National Energy Strategy, approved in March 2013, sets the target to reach and surpass the national climate and energy targets at reduced costs and higher security of supply with an emphasis on “green growth” elements due to its implications for jobs and economic improvement in the energy sector. It lists a number of measures of which most aim at strengthening and enforcing existing instruments.

16. Latvia: In Latvia, energy security is a key concern, as the country remains isolated from EU energy networks and is highly dependent on Russian gas. Therefore, Latvia’s Energy Strategy 2030, in force since March 2013, sets long-term actions to ensure energy supply, competitiveness, energy efficiency and the use of renewable energy. In addition, a National Waste Management Plan for 2013 to 2020 was approved in March 2013.

17. Lithuania: Lithuania is highly dependent on energy imports, mainly natural gas and oil, after the shut-down of the only nuclear power station. The promotion of renewable energy, especially renewable heat, and the construction of a new nuclear power plant are planned as part of the 2012 Energy Independence Strategy. The 2012 National Strategy on Climate Policy sets national climate targets and objectives for the short-, medium- and long-term. A number of measures are outlined in a recently published Action Plan. Policies are also in place addressing agriculture, waste and forestry.

18. Luxembourg: Luxembourg introduced its first national climate action plan in 2006 and has taken measures on, e.g. energy efficiency, sustainable transport, or renewable energies. However, Luxembourg still has by far the highest per capita emissions in the EU and a slight decrease of total emissions since 2005 can be ascribed rather to the economic recession than to ambitious climate policies, as the Government itself acknowledges.

19.Malta:  In Malta, nearly all energy is produced from imported oil products, thus making the country in particular vulnerable to oil price shocks. Energy policies mainly address the reduction of energy dependence including the promotion of renewable energies, grants for insulation in buildings and the construction of an electricity grid interconnection to Sicily. The interconnection will in particular increase grid stability, allow for electricity imports/exports thus reducing dependence on oil while at the same time reducing the greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of the national electricity sector.

20. Netherlands: The Dutch government employs a mix of policy instruments to address GHG emissions and energy intensity. The new Energy Agreement for Sustainable Growth (SER) features a set of broadly supported provisions which - if implemented -should reduce final energy consumption by 1.5%/yr and increase the share of renewable energies to 14% in the energy mix in 2020 whilst creating at least 15,000 new jobs.

21. Poland: Although it refers to sustainable development in its constitution (Art. 5), climate change only plays a minor role for decision-makers in Poland. The National climate strategy is outdated and does not comply with current EU directives. The emission factor for power generation in Poland is more than twice of that of the EU, with coal being the main fuel (90% in 2009). Currently, Poland is renewing its outdated complex of power plants (70% older than 30 years); 24 GW are being planned or built, mainly using coal or gas, while the renewable energy potentials remain underexploited.

22. Portugal: Portugal has made broad strides towards meeting and surpassing its 2020 GHG emissions reduction goals, largely through comprehensive national plans addressing renewable energies and energy efficiency. These plans have included funding, taxation, and regulatory programmes that all simultaneously encourage the reduction of Portugal’s climate impact.

23. Romania: Noteworthy developments took place in several policy areas related to climate change, specifically to environmental taxation, energy efficiency, renewable energy, transport and waste. Nonetheless, climate change itself receives only moderate attention in Romania as a policy issue – energy supply and prices are of foremost concern.

24. Slovakia: Climate change itself receives only moderate attention in Slovakia as a policy issue and the high energy intensity of the economy remains a key issue. The energy mix is quite diversified including gas, nuclear, oil and solid fuels but with only a small share coming from renewable energy. Slovakia’s Energy Policy Strategy outlines the long-term energy objectives of the country until 2035, focusing on increasing domestic production of nuclear and hydro energy sources to reduce import dependency, which is above the EU average.

25. Slovenia: While Slovenia currently lacks an overarching climate strategy, the government has engaged in numerous policy areas with the goal of reducing the country’s climate impact. Slovenia’s emission pattern is markedly different from those of other Central and Eastern European EU Member States, in that it was the only one who had to make specific efforts to reach its Kyoto target. Slovenia’s mitigation efforts have focused particularly on renewable energy development and energy efficient buildings and appliances, though recently the transport sector has begun to receive more attention from policymakers.

26. Spain: Spain has put much emphasis on the transition to a green economy. However, the Spanish climate policy was mainly based on the promotion of renewable electricity generation via a feed-in tariff scheme. This cornerstone of climate policy has effectively been abandoned with Royal Decree Law (RDL) 1/2012 by which the scheme was suspended due to its costs. However, the creation of green jobs was seen as a policy priority and currently, there are 400,000 to 500,000 green jobs in Spain, around 2.2% of total employment. Recent austerity measures put this development at risk.

27. Sweden:  Sweden has long been a leader in climate-friendly policies. It has a very high proportion of renewable energy production, due to long-standing utilization of hydroelectric installations and recent advances in the deployment of wind power. Current fuel taxes are also among the highest in the EU. Transport was once quite inefficient by European standards, but has rapidly transformed due to policy changes.

28. United Kingdom: The 2008 Climate Change Act provides the framework for climate policy with binding carbon budgets for the UK. The UK is implementing a very broad set of different policy measures that are often adjusted and partially overlap. Next to renewable energy, the UK focuses on the use of nuclear energy, CCS and unconventional natural gas as part of the future energy mix.