Energy and environment

All energy production and consumption has environmental impacts. Energy related emissions contribute to pollution of air, water and soil while also posing risks to human health, nature and biodiversity. Sustainable energy policies aim to reduce these threats, while ensuring the security of supply and the competitiveness of the EU industries.

The EU has made a commitment to integrate environmental concerns into all relevant policy areas, including energy. This work is an ongoing process requiring efforts in a number of areas including setting ambitious targets for increasing energy efficiency and share of renewable energies in overall energy mix and for alternative fuels, as well as ensuring the internal energy market by separating energy production from distribution.

Comparison of the energy related effects on environment and human health from different energy sources is often not straightforward and energy modelling is thus needed to guide the policy decisions in selection of the relevant policy measures and the choice between different energy sources.

Climate change is currently the most serious threat to the natural environment and human health with potentially devastating economic costs to the societies worldwide. Since 80% of the greenhouse gases originate from heat and power production as well as from transport, one of the main energy-related policy drivers in the EU is the reduction of greenhouse gases (GHG) at their sources.

DG Environment is in the pivotal role in drafting policies for tackling climate change through the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) and policy initiatives such as greenhouse gas trading (Emissions Trading Scheme - ETS), limiting air pollution through National Emission Ceilings (NEC) directive and developing common rules for Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS). DG Environment had also in a key role in setting up the Johannesburg Renewable Energy Coalition composed of governments that are committed to achieving the commitments on renewable energy made at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg (South-Africa) in 2002.

DG Environment funded the study Analysis of impacts of climate change policies on energy security, which looked into the areas of overlap between greenhouse gas emissions reduction policies and European energy security goals; and mainly into the quantification of how certain climate change policies and energy security issues might interact and could evolve up to 2030.