EU to surpass 20 per cent renewable goal

EUROPEAN UNION - The European Union will exceed its target of meeting 20 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2020, a report by the European Wind Energy Association EWEA said.

Of the bloc's 27 member states, 25 expect to meet or exceed their national targets, EWEA said, based on its analysis of national action plans submitted by EU governments to the European Commission.

"Taken together, the action plans show that the EU-27 will meet 20.7 percent of its 2020 energy consumption from renewables," said Justin Wilkes, policy director at EWEA.

Of the 15 EU countries which expect to exceed their 2020 target, Spain predicted it would surpass its goal by 2.7 percentage points. Germany said it would exceed the target by 1.6 percentage points.

Luxembourg and Italy, which are predicted to fall short of their national targets by 2.1 and 0.9 percentage points respectively, said they plan to import renewable energy from other countries to make up the shortfall.