Europe's energy sector transformation is now well on its way. Yet, to reach the EU's ambitious decarbonisation target for 2050, more fundamental changes will be required in the energy and transport system after 2020. To provide a solid basis for decision-makers, the Ecologic Institute supports Agora Energiewende in developing a report that delivers a snapshot of how the EU’s energy system could like in 2030. The new report "Big Picture of the European Clean Energy Transition in 2030" builds on the successful German predecessor "Energiewende 2030: The Big Picture". In a concise and accessible fashion, the report specifies key challenges in EU energy policy and shows the way forward towards higher ambition.

The EU is currently revising its climate and energy policy framework. Based on a European Council decision from 2014, which defined the EU climate and energy targets for 2030, the European Commission presented a comprehensive package of new and revised legislation in November 2016. The process to adopt this "Clean Energy for all All Package" is expected to conclude by the end of 2018. 

Nonetheless, many implementation questions will remain to be solved when a new European Parliament and a new European Commission come in May and November 2019, respectively. One reason is that EU law-makers are likely to agree on compromises that postpone some controversial issues into the future. At the same time, technological development and the spread of new business models are likely to remain drivers for continuous regulatory change.

Thus, energy policy will continue to remain high on the EU agenda. In 2019, EU law-makers will need to adopt a new multiannual budget for the EU which will be of key importance to implement the objectives of EU energy and climate policy. Moreover, the Council will have to define a position on how to increase ambition under the Paris Agreement before the 2020 Conference of Parties.

In this project Ecologic Institute supports Agora Energiewende in the research and writing of the report. In addition to own research, the team helps to integrate contributions from Agora Verkehrswende and external partners. Outlines and findings are presented to two advisory working groups for feedback.