The European Union agreed on Thursday to increase the share of renewables in the bloc's energy mix to 32 percent by 2030 after Germany blocked earlier efforts to set an even higher target.
"This deal is a hard-won victory in our efforts to unlock the true potential of Europe's clean energy transition," EU Climate Commissioner Miguel Arias Canete wrote on Twitter.
Negotiators from the EU member states and the European Parliament also agreed to phase out the use of palm oil by 2030 and ease regulations on smaller renewable energy producers. Member states did not agree to the parliament's demands to set an energy efficiency target.
Read more: Germany can push renewables, without blackouts, says Friends of Earth
Not quite what Berlin wanted
The parliament and some member states had called for a 35 percent renewables target in response to an early draft that included a 27 percent target for the share of wind-, solar-, water- and biomass-based energy in the EU's energy mix.
But German Economy Minister Peter Altmaier rejected the higher target as unrealistic and called for a compromise of 30 percent. Germany still depends heavily on coal for electricity production. Germany on Wednesday announced it would not meet its 2020 climate protection goal.
The European agreement does, however, allow the bloc to revise the target upward in 2023. "The agreed 2030 binding target of 32 percent should be seen as a starting line for the race to greater ambition," said Wendel Trio, director of Climate Action Network Europe.
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The diversity of natural resources
Glorious and useful
While the world still produces a lot of its energy from fossil fuels, nature produces plenty of renewable resources constantly. Although plant lovers enjoy sunflowers for their splendour and chefs use the oil for cooking, industry uses the tall yellow flower to produce lubricants or in biodiesel. The sunflower is a renewable resource that is grown on about 400,000 hectares of farmland in Germany.
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The diversity of natural resources
One of the oldest resources
Forests supply a resource mankind has been using for a very long time: wood. To whittle spears or to kindle a fire - wood was indispensable for our ancestors. It is still a popular building material: About 15 percent of new buildings in Germany are constructed out of wood.
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The diversity of natural resources
Raw materials produce heat
Wood is a renewable resource that also supplies energy. Over the past decade, wood pellets have become increasingly popular to heat stoves - a good example for how renewables as an energy source can reduce mineral oil consumption.
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The diversity of natural resources
A lubricant for steam engines
Rapeseed is a member of the cabbage family. Humans have been using the plant for many centuries. The seed has been a source for oil since the Middle Ages, used for instance in lamps. In the 19th century, rapeseed oil was used as a lubricant for steam engines.
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The diversity of natural resources
The downside of the biogas boom
Using renewable resources as an energy supplier has given rise to quite some criticism. Huge fields of corn and rapeseed are planted to run biogas plants. As a result, the landscape in regions like northeastern Germany has radically changed, and many wild plants and animals have lost their habitat.
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The diversity of natural resources
The all-rounder
Corn, originally from Latin America, is one of the most widely cultivated crops in the world. It is not just planted on vast fields for renewable energy purposes: its main use is animal feed and food for humans. Industry has also discovered corn as an ingredient for glue and adhesives.
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The diversity of natural resources
Plant-based plastics
Plastic made of corn, potatoes or sugar cane: nowadays, many products are made of bioplastics, including garbage bags and joghurt containers, but also products such as disposable razors. Environmental activists support improving and consistently recycling bioplastics to ensure they are really environmentally friendly.
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The diversity of natural resources
From biscuits to biodiesel
Palm fruit is pressed to win palm oil, an edible vegetable oil. It is an ingredient in many different types of food, including margarine, pizza and biscuits. Palm oil is used as a raw material in candles, cosmetics and washing powder. The product is also increasingly used for biodiesel production.
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The diversity of natural resources
Palm trees replace rainforests
Palm oil is the one renewable resource that is most strongly criticized. Oil palms grow well in hot, humid climates, just like rainforests, rich in species and home to rare animals such as orangutans. Over the past years, rainforests have been felled extensively in Malaysia and Indonesia to make way for palm oil plantations.
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The diversity of natural resources
Weaving, not smoking
Many people know hemp only as a recreational drug. But there is a form of hemp for industrial use that has no intoxicating effect. It is grown, for instance, in France, where the fibers are used to make special paper and clothing, like hemp jeans.
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The diversity of natural resources
Keeping the heat in
Insulating material can also be made of hemp fiber. The blocks here can't be used on the outside of a house because they don't tolerate moisture, but the hemp is well-suited to insulate walls, ceilings or the roof of a house from the inside. Hemp fibers also help keep the house cool in the summer.
Author: Alexandra Hostert / db
As part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the EU is trying to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40 percent in 2030 compared to 1990 levels. It has already set itself the goal of increasing the share of renewables to 20 percent by 2020.
Renewables currently make up 17 percent of the bloc's energy mix.
amp/sms (Reuters, AFP, dpa)
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