Fifty shades of binding: Appraising the enforcement toolkit for the EU’s 2030 renewable energy targets

• Author: Alessandro Monti,Beatriz Martinez Romera
• Date: 01 July 2020
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/reel.12330
• Published date: 01 July 2020

RECIEL. 2020;29:221–231.  

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  221wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/reel

1 | INTRODUCTION

While the Europe an Union (EU) has adopted an array of pro minent

targets in th e climate domain in the last d ecades, it has been p ointed

out that ‘improvements in the EU’s implementation and enforcement

powers have faile d to keep pace with the rate and sc ale of policy in-

novation’.1 Renewable ener gy targets, an d their fulfilment , are key to

EU climate ambitio n. However, the lack of an effective e nforcement

toolkit risks leaving targets impaired.

In 2018, the EU adopte d several legislative ac ts, which comple-

ment and operat ionalize its mid-term2 emissio ns reduction strategy

 1A Jordan et al, ‘G overning Clim ate Change in the Eu ropean Union: U nderstand ing the

Past and Prep aring for the Fut ure’ in A Jordan et al (e ds), Climate Chang e Policy in the

European Union: Confronting the Dilemmas of Mitigation and Adaptation? (Cambridge

Universit y Press 2010) 253, 26 4–265.

 2‘Mid-term’ is he re used as oppos ed to ‘long-term’ com mitments, wh ich, instead , refer to

the EU 2050 Clim ate Strategy. See C ommission (EU) , ‘A Clean Planet for al l – a European

strategic l ong-term vision fo r a prosperous , modern, comp etitive and clim ate neutral

economy’ (Co mmunicatio n) COM(2018) 773 fin al, 28 November 2018 .

Received: 4 Febr uary 2020 

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  Accepted: 17 March 202 0

DOI: 10 .1111/reel .12330

SPECIAL ISSUE ARTICLE

Fifty shades of binding: Appraising the enforcement toolkit for

the EU’s 2030 renewable energy targets

Alessandro Monti  | Beatriz Martinez Romera

This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Crea tive Commons Attr ibution-NonCo mmercial License , which permits us e, distribution a nd reproductio n

in any medium, p rovided the origin al work is properly ci ted and is not used for com mercial purpose s.

© 2020 The Autho rs. Review of Europea n, Comparative & Inter national Environm ental Law publishe d by John Wiley & Sons Ltd .

Correspondence

Email: alessandromonti@gmx.com In December 2018, the Euro pean Union (EU) adopted a recas t of the Renewable

Energy Directive (R ED II), whic h introduces a new target of 32 percent renewa ble

energy to be reac hed at the EU level by 2030. This target repres ents a discontinuity

with the one enshrin ed in the previous Directive (RED I), as it is binding o nly for the

EU as a whole but not for indiv idual Member States. Such a po licy shift paves the way

to new legal challenges fo r the deployment of renewable energ y. Yet, the contextual

approval of the Regulatio n on the Governance of the Energy Unio n also provides the

European Commission w ith an enforcement toolkit to resp ond to Member States’

ambition and deliver y gaps in their National Ene rgy and Climate Plans. Provid ing

an appraisal of the R ED II and the Governance Regulation , this article argues t hat,

despite the lack of bindi ng renewable energy t argets at Member State level, t he

Commission is equipp ed with the necessary instrum ents to ensure the enforcement

of the collective 203 0 renewable energy target .

known as the 203 0 Climate and Energy Fra mework (2030

Framework).3 Such new pieces of legis lation include a reca st

Renewable Energy Directive (RED II)4 and a Regulation for the

Governance of the En ergy Union (Governance Reg ulation).5 The for-

mer updates the n ormative framework for the pro motion of renew-

able energy, whereas the latter provides the procedural instruments

to ensure the achie vement of the whole set of objec tives and targets

pertaini ng to the 2030 Framework and the so -called ‘Energy Union’,

 3European Co uncil, ‘Concl usions on 2030 Cl imate and Energ y Policy Framew ork’, SN

79/14 (23 October 2014).

 4Parliamen t and Council Dir ective (EU) 2018/20 01 on the promot ion of the use of

energy fro m renewable so urces (recast) [2 018] OJ L328/82 (RED II).

 5Parliamen t and Council Regu lation (EU) 2018/1999 on t he Governance of t he Energy

Union and Clim ate Action, am ending Regulat ions (EC) No 663/20 09 and (EC) No

715/2009 of the Eur opean Parliam ent and of the Cou ncil, Direct ives 94/22/EC, 98/70/

EC, 2009/31/EC, 20 09/73/EC, 2010/31/EU, 2012 /27/EU and 2013/30/EU of the

European Pa rliament and of th e Council, Cou ncil Directi ves 2009/119/EC and (EU)

2015/652 and repeali ng Regulation (EU ) No 525/2013 of the Europe an Parliament a nd of

the Council [20 18] OJ L328/1 (Governance R egulation).