Europe's transition to a low-carbon society is becoming the new reality
The European Commission adopted today the third Report on the State of the Energy Union which shows that Europe's transition to a low-carbon society is becoming the new reality on EU's ground.
A key finding of the report is that thanks to progress in 2017, the EU is on track to implement the Energy Union project and deliver jobs, growth and investments. Enabling actions are being put in place to support a socially fair clean energy transition.
According to the Commission, the time has come now to mobilise the society - citizens, cities, rural areas, companies, academia, social partners - to take full ownership of the Energy Union, take it even forward and engage actively in developing the solutions of the future.
The Third State of the Energy Union also confirms that energy transition is not possible without adapting the infrastructure to the needs of the future energy system. Energy, transport and telecommunication infrastructure are more and more interlinked. Local networks will become ever more important in the daily lives of European citizens, who will increasingly switch to electro-mobility, decentralised energy production and demand response.
Considerable achievements have been made but bottlenecks remain particularly in the field of electricity. To address this, the Commission today adopted a Communication on the 2030 electricity interconnection target of 15%. It also adopted the third list of Projects of Common Interest Projects of common interest which are key infrastructure projects aimed at completing the European energy market in order to help the EU achieve its energy policy and climate objectives: affordable, secure and sustainable energy for all citizens, as well as the long-term decarbonisation of the economy in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
The 2017 list includes 173 projects, of which 110 are electricity and smart grids projects, 53 gas projects, and 6 oil projects. For the first time as well, the list of Projects of Common Interest provides for four cross-border carbon dioxide network projects.
Source: © European Union, 1995-2017