Tough European carbon caps 'imminent'

The annoucement is expected to require Britain to source 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by that date, with poorer member states given easier targets in the short term.

Tough new caps on Europe's industrial emissions are also expected as part of the European emissions trading scheme.

The UK's share of an EU-wide switch to renewable energy sources will be set at about 15% of all domestic energy use - more than seven times the current UK level of less than 2%.

Other countries are being asked to do more, or less, depending on their abilities.

But the European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, has challenged all 27 countries to accept their share of the environmental burden.

Last year EU leaders agreed the "triple 20" challenge - to cut overall greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20% compared with 1990 levels; to find at least 20% of all energy needs from renewable sources; and to increase energy efficiency by 20% - all by 2020.

Today's sweeping package of clean energy legislation proposed by the European Commission is the action plan for putting promises into practice.

If the prime minister, Gordon Brown, sticks to the national targets set for the UK, it will mean a clean energy revolution in Britain over the next 12 years, say environmental campaigners.

The biggest hurdle for the prime minister is to meet the huge required boost in renewable energy generation as a share of total electricity, heat and transport use by the deadline.

The energy minister, Malcolm Gordon Wicks, warned yesterday that the target may not be met entirely domestically - but the UK could buy in extra renewable power from other countries to make up the difference under new rules extending across borders the current EU Emissions Trading System of transferable emissions "credits".

Wicks said the British renewables industry could look forward to a "business and commercial opportunity" from the need to respond to environmental problems.

On Monday in London Barroso also urged UK business to see the climate change challenge as a business opportunity and not a burden. The commission has spent months in discussions with governments, industry and green groups, hoping to win consensus for today's plans and avoid a damaging rift which would threaten the EU's claims to be leading the way in tackling climate change.

Barroso says meeting the commission's requirements on clean energy will have a cost, but it could be limited to about 0.5% of GDP.

But the cost of inaction would be "at least 10 times that, and could even approach 20% of GDP". Taking the green route would have long-term benefits for jobs and growth, he insisted.

Green groups welcome UK commitment

The Greenpeace executive director, John Sauven, said: "The government should be congratulated for signing up to these targets, which will deliver a massive chunk of renewable energy and set a real example to the rest of the world. This is the technology of the future, and it will need a new industrial policy to achieve this goal."

Friends of the Earth (FoE) called on Brown to commit the UK to reaching the climate change targets by using the planned national climate change bill to set a 3% annual cut in carbon dioxide emissions - including the UK's share of international emissions from aviation and shipping.

FoE's Niall Bakewell said: "It's fantastic to think the UK could be the first country to have a climate change law but it would be crazy if it is too weak to work."

The organisation wants the government to propose 80% cuts in CO2 emissions by 2050 "to ensure the UK plays its part in keeping global temperatures from rising two degrees above pre-industrial levels - the temperature rise recognised by the EU as a danger level we should not breach".

The Conservative environment spokesman in the European parliament, John Bowis, welcomed the commission's plans but warned that increased use of biofuels must not have a negative, instead of positive, environmental impact.

"A biofuels policy that leads to an increase in deforestation and rise in food prices and water shortages, with little or no reduction in carbon emissions, would be a disaster and must be avoided," he said.

Green MEP for the South-East, Caroline Lucas said: "Member states have been balking at potential renewables targets for some time now, but expanding renewables is not some punitive means of achieving climate goals - it is a key means of reducing our dependence on imported fossil fuels and creating jobs in Europe."

The Labour MEP Eluned Morgan approved of the commission's plan to auction carbon permits under the revised emissions trading system - an idea she said would ensure a high carbon price and help encourage the move to renewable energy sources.

The Liberal Democrat environment spokesman in the European Parliament, Chris Davies, said: "No one ever said that meeting the challenge of global warming would be easy but we must grasp these measures as an opportunity, not see them as a threat.

"The move towards a low carbon economy will promote innovation, drive forward investment and create jobs.

Tom Clarke, our science correspondent, has more.

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