| 06.03.07
EU citizens in favour of Renewable Energies: According to the recent EUROBAROMETER energy survey, 83% of citizens in the member states agree that the EU sets a minimum percentage of the energy used in each Member State that should come from renewable sources. The relevant press release of the EC was issued on 5.3.07; it can be downloaded as pdf in English, French and German. Not surprisingly, the lowest agreement was found in most of the new member states, and in the Baltic countries in particular; however, even in the last country on the list, Latvia, the agreement to renewable energy targets was 50 %! (see here for slide with country details) On the other hand, 61% of the overall EU population think that the share of nuclear energy should be decreased due to concerns such as nuclear waste and the danger of accidents. In 22 out of the 27 member states a majority of citizens favours decreasing the nuclear share; exemptions are only Sweden (!), Finland, Czech Republic, Slowak Republic and Bulgaria (see here for slide with country details) The full set of slides with all 14 questions is for download from the EU website. In contrary, as EuroActive relates, Europe's major business lobby BusinessEurope has expressed its concern about EU plans to set a binding 20% target for renewables. Nick Campbell, who chairs the federation's environment group, said that the target was unrealistic and "a step into the unknown" because no one had ever demonstrated how this could be achieved or assessed the impact on business. In BusinessEurope's view, nuclear power has a "very strong contribution" to make as a non-CO2-producing form of power and the EU should take steps to increase its share in electricity generation from 32% to 40% by 2030. <<- back |