The European Commission defended its proposal to source 45% of the EU’s energy from renewable sources by 2030 as EU countries look to lower ambition, EU climate chief Frans Timmermans told Euractiv in an exclusive interview.

EU countries and the European Parliament are currently in talks about a new law to boost green energy production, including a target setting out how much of Europe’s energy mix should come from renewables by 2030.

In December, EU countries supported a 40% renewable energy target as part of ongoing talks to revise the EU’s renewable energy directive, a goal lower than the 45% tabled by the EU’s executive Commission and supported by Parliament.

“I think we need to hold the line for 45%,” Timmermans told EURACTIV in an exclusive interview at the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) assembly in Abu Dhabi.

“If you see the pace with which our renewables are being built – offshore wind but especially also rooftop solar – I think the target is ambitious, but feasible,” he added.

When it first proposed updating the renewables directive in July 2021, the European Commission suggested a 40% target for 2030 but it upped this to 45% last year in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

About 22% of the EU’s energy came from renewables in 2020, two percentage points higher than the bloc’s agreed target for that year.

France, the Netherlands, Ireland, and several other EU countries are reluctant to back a European Commission proposal to boost the EU’s renewable energy objective for 2030 in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine, Euractiv can confirm.

According to Timmernans, there is an “increasing understanding” in EU capitals that a higher renewables target is required to strengthen the EU’s energy security in the face of falling Russian gas exports to Europe.

“Many see the need to wean ourselves off fossil fuels because of the climate crisis, but everybody sees that we can no longer depend on fossil fuels and the only way we can increase our sovereignty in the energy field is going for renewables,” he told Euractiv.

And faster EU permitting rules could make the objective more palatable to EU countries, he believes.

“If we can help member states with that, then the target also becomes easier to attain,” Timmermans explained.