The study will discuss various aspects of energy sustainability measures taken by the European Union. Due to the climate change and global warming, various countries across the globe are taking measures to reduce the emission of greenhouse gases do not meet the upper limit of increasing world temperature 2-degree centigrade by 2022 (Kanellakis et al. 2013). In that context, the European Union has set various targets to meet by 2020. In that context, the study will discuss the need for development of European Energy Policy and Strategy. It will also identify various steps taken to develop the infrastructure and make investment to meet its objectives. The various aspects of development of thematic areas and priority corridors will also be discussed in this essay. In the end, the easy will be concluded by providing a brief summary.
Discussion on the reason of need a European Energy Policy and Strategy
Europe has taken its short-term measure to develop European Energy Policy and Strategy to make the country environmentally sustainable. The country has set target that by the end of 2020, it will reduce the greenhouse gas consumption by 20%, increase the share of renewable energy in its energy mix by 20% and improve energy efficiency by 20% (Vanolo 2014). This will facilitate the country to meet the energy consumption level at sustainable level. Since the country does not have their own energy resources. It has to depend on Russia, Algeria, Norway and many other countries. This causes the country to invest €350 billion each year. The economic and commercial sector of the country is continuously growing (Beuse et al. 2018). Thus, they act as the key consumers of considerate energy resources of the organization. Thus, to support their energy consumption needs, the country is required to control its present energy consumption process to support the need of its people for long-term perspectives. Apart from that, the rising political tension among Russia, USA and European Countries such as UK, it is required to take necessary measures to develop its own energy consumption policy and strategy to develop its own energy reserves and sustainable consumption strategy (Nejat et al. 2015).
However, the European Energy Policy and Strategy is not focused on developing its own energy production facility. Thus, in long-term perspective, it will cause the country to face it challeng8ing to meet its long-term goal of energy consumption by the end of 2050 (Copiello, 2015). Since, as the non-renewable energy in the world is continuously depleting. This is the key reason for which major countries are developing conflict with each other. However, Europe has been successful to achieve 22% reduction in greenhouse gas emission by 2015 from the year 1990. It is expected that the continent will be able to meet its target of reducing greenhouse gas emission by 20% by the end of 2020 (Maricic et al. 2018). However, in 2015, the share of renewable energy in comprehensive energy consumption was recorded as 16.4%. This shows that the countries operating under EU required following effective guidance and supervision to meet its target effectively by the end of 2020. Since EU operates large number of countries, without the presence of an integrated environmental management policy, Europe will not be able to make its target for 2020 and 2050 considerably feasible (Pollitt and Mercure 2018).
Apart from that, amid the critical aspects of global warming and climate change, if the continent fails to set an example to meet the agenda set in Paris Conference for Environmental Protection, the country will not be able to sustain its competitiveness. In that context, Europe is required to develop an effective measure for all the members of the nation to follow environmental norms effectively (Polzin et al. 2015). This develops the need for European Energy Policy and Strategy for all the member countries of European Union. This way it will help to ensure high degree of sustainability for meeting its environmental objectives.
It has been identified that, in the year 2018, the key likelihood of the global events are extreme weather events, natural disaster and failure of climate change migration and adaptation. However, the cyber attack and data fraud and theft will also play key roles. In this context, the energy mix of the Europe consists of 35% oil, 24% gas, 17% coal and other solid fuels, 14% nuclear and 10% renewable. This way the majority share of the energy mix of the country results in green house gas emission and environmental hazards. Thus, it is highly required that the European Union takes necessary strategies to develop optimum energy mix.
To develop sustainable energy consumption process, Europe is taking various measures to develop new infrastructure and investments, thematic areas and priority corridors. The key steps followed in these areas are as discussed below.
New infrastructures and investments
The country is focused on developing its effective energy consumption infrastructure in transport, information society and energy. It has set budget to invest €1000 billion in next 10 years to support the development of new infrastructure. In this context the steps taken to develop new infrastructure and investment has been discussed below.
Governing Body: It has developed Energy Union strategy. Europe has set target for 2020, 2030 and 2050 for sustainable energy consumption. It is focused on developing research and development to foster innovation in energy segments. In its Energy Union strategy, the continent is most focused on development of internal energy market by integrating energy resources available to all the countries operating under the European Union (Burman et al. 2014). The continent also developed governance of the Energy Union to ensure its effective performance. The governing body will supervise the five dimension of energy union such as security, internal energy market, efficiency, climate action and research and development.
Developing Building Infrastructure: Europe has developed provision for developing nearly-zero energy building by 2020. The provision also creates submitting energy performance certificates. It was also mandated to submit national essay on energy performance by all countries operating under European Union (Moreno and García-Álvarez 2013). The buildings in EU member countries are required to follow effective long-term renovation strategies. The countries must also develop rating system such as Smart Readiness of Buildings to compare their effectiveness in meeting environmental objectives. EU also proposes to use smart technology to control the temperature of rooms and implementing building automation with the help of devices. By implementing effective ventilation and air condition effectively the houses will be made to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions (Islam et al. 2013). This way the buildings will be developed has highly environment-friendly.
Trans European Network for Energy: The European Commission has developed Trans European Networks for Energy such as TEN-E Strategy to develop an integrated energy sharing and resourcing platform among the European Countries. It has been identified that the project would require to invest €200 billion to meet its target by the end of 2030 (Adelle and Russel 2013). Thus, EU will facilitate the funding and development of this architecture by developing gas pipelines and transmission grids. This project will facilitate to develop €600 billion rises in developing socio-economic benefits. This way EU will be able to meet offer high degree of sustainability by offering effective energy consumption.
Projects of Common Interest: Under the category of projects of common interest, the European Union has increased its budget of investment for three key sectors identified as the key segments for increased consumption of energy such as transport, digital infrastructure and boosting energy. In the year 2014, the budget for investment was set to €30 billion by the end of 2020. However, the budget was extended by 47% to €42.3 billion to meet the new target of 2027. In this budget, €8.7 billion is to be invested in energy, €30.6 billion on transport and €3 billion on digital infrastructure. This way Europe will thrive to meet its objective of developing internal and integrated market of energy resources by the end of 2030 effectively (Hennig et al. 2018).
Energy Infrastructure Forum: As it is expected that many countries will find various issues related to the implantation and operational strategies of the energy infrastructure development. Therefore, to manage these issues, European Commission has developed Energy Infrastructure Forum where grieving countries, expert group and high-level groups discuss various issues related to development of the infrastructure (Perathoner and Centi 2014). It facilitates to maintain high degree of transparency in infrastructure development process and facilitates better utilization of available resources to develop energy infrastructure.
Thematic areas
To manage and implement strategies related to the energy management system of the continent, Europe has taken three key steps to meet this objective. These key three steps are as discussed below.
Deployment of Smart-Grids: The smart grids helps to develop cost-efficient energy consumption network across various countries under the guideline of PCI i.e. Project of Common Interest. It helps to develop synergy in integrated consumption of energy resources (Capros et al. 2014).
Development of electricity highway: This highway will help to develop extended energy grids, which would connect the southern and northern parts of Europe. The development of electricity highway will also facilitate the countries to reduce the risk of blackouts of electricity (Calel and Dechezlepretre 2016). Thus, the countries will require developing less number of power plants. The sharing of electricity based on electricity highway will also facilitate the countries to develop better interconnection and sustainable use of electricity.
Development of cross borders carbon network: With the help of effective carbon network with the member countries and various neighbouring countries, Europe is focused on developing carbon storage and resources to meet its target of decarbonisation by the end of 2030 and 2050 (Boyes and Elliott 2014).
The priority corridors are the key strategic aspects of energy consumption management in Europe. The steps followed by Europe to maintain eight priority corridors are discussed below.
Europe focused on three key priority sectors such as electricity, gas and oil corridors. These three key segments are the highest consumption sector of overall energy. Thus focusing on these three segments will facilitate the European Union to meet its energy goals effectively within the stated time-period (Ringel and Knodt 2018).
To make the energy consumption sustainable, the continent developed internal connection between these corridors across EU. It has developed four electricity corridors such as four gas corridor, four electricity corridors and one oil corridors. This way the energy consumption and energy resources are sustainably accessed across countries in EU and in member countries (Szulecki and Westphal 2018).
With the help of four electricity corridors, the European Union has become successful to develop connection between sea areas and consumption areas. This facilitated to make electricity accessible in cross-border medium. It has made access to renewable energy such as from energy sources highly cost-effective.
Europe also becomes successful to develop North-South and East-West electric grid line connection will facilitate the countries to access the electricity effectively. It will also facilitate to develop an internal market of energy. This will help the country to enhance its energy resources effectively. This way it will be able to meet its energy maintenance objectives by 2020.
European Union also integrated North-South gas corridor with eastern, western and central region. This will facilitate to provide enhanced access to the gas energy systematically. This will facilitate the countries to access gas across various parts of the EU cost-effectively (Katinas et al. 2018). However, the interconnection of these gas lines mighty result hazardous incidents if it is been flamed somehow. In that context, European Union is required to implement effective safety measures to ensure its high degree of safety and security.
Conclusion
The study discussed various aspects of European Energy Policy and Strategy. It identified that the European Union has developed its 2020 strategy to achieve environmental sustainability. The continent does not have its own energy sources and reserves. Therefore, it is required to depend on other countries to meet its high demand for energy consumption. However, as the resources of energy are depleting in the world, it is required for the company to enhance its energy resources and make energy consumption sustainable. In that context, it is required for the country to implement effective European Energy Policy and Strategy. In that context, the study has also identified key stapes followed by European Union to develop its energy infrastructure and investment. The key infrastructure discussed in the study are governing body, building infrastructure, Trans European network for energy, projects of common interest and energy infrastructure forum. This framework has facilitated the implementation of energy consumption strategy sustainable for consumption and investment. In that context, key steps for the development of thematic areas and priority corridors have also been discussed in this study. This way the essay acts as a key information source to assess the environmental measures taken by the European Union.
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