A survey conducted by the European Commission has found that 90% of citizens think it’s important for their government to aim for a greater share of renewable energy by 2030.
The Eurobarometer poll, published this week, also found that 49% of those asked thought it “very important” for governments to ask.
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Support was highest in Cyprus, Greece and Malta and lowest in Bulgaria and Estonia.
The EU’s current 2020 target of sourcing 20% of its energy from renewables is made up of a patchwork of binding goals for each nation.
Discussions on the 2030 goals have seen some call for no separate renewables target at all and instead an emission reduction target to act as the sole policy to promote renewables.
The UK performed a u-turn this week. It had been the largest country in a group looking to remove the renewable target so that other low carbon technologies such as nuclear and carbon capture and storage could be used as well. Now it has said it backs a 27% renewable energy target for 2030, but that this should not be broken into national objectives. This is in line with the current proposals by the European Commission.
Critics said this target is unambitious and represents “business as usual”.
