EU energy ministers meeting in Luxembourg failed to adopt a last-minute deal to save the energy-efficiency directive aimed at cutting CO2 emissions and achieving energy savings of 80% by 2050 due to a Polish veto in the matter.
Poland had already vetoed the 2050 roadmap in March 2012, objecting to the fact that the roadmap identified interim emission-reduction milestones between already-agreed targets for 2020 and 2050. Among other tension points, Poland maintains that the EU should not adopt any new binding targets unless the world's other top emitters like China, Russia or the United States agree to a global climate deal to replace the Kyoto Protocol.
Poland asked that the term ‘decarbonisation' be re-defined so it would not exclude all fossil fuels, for example by including coal-fired power plants that use carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology. Poland also asked that a section on financial support for renewables be changed to support for “low-carbon technologies”, so that nuclear and CCS could also receive support. Poland, which is heavily dependent on coal, has been a staunch opponent of the EU’s climate policies since it joined the Union in 2004.
The 2050 energy roadmap offers solutions for the EU’s energy mix over the next few decades, which aim to significantly reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and increase the share of renewable energy in the mix beyond 2020.