The three EU institutions of the Commission, Council, and Parliament have now adopted their positions on the review of the Renewable Energy Directive. The EU institutions adopted the current directive (RED-2) in 2018, and is being reviewed to ensure all elements are in line with new, higher EU targets for cutting emissions by 2030 and 2050.
The three institutions will now negotiate the new directive (RED-3) in trilogue. The European Commission proposes a small improvement on Article 19 on Guarantees of Origin (GOs) – namely to require Member States (MS) to issue GOs to all renewable energy, whether it benefits from a support scheme or not. Unfortunately, the European Council opposes this, and seeks to retain the right of MS to refuse to issue GOs for supported generation.
Overall, the European Parliament has the most progressive position. While the Parliament follows the Council as regards GOs for supported generation, it also calls for a GO system for renewable hydrogen and makes provisions that would allow for hourly matching of renewable production and consumption. Furthermore, it would require MS to publish annual residual mix data, and would require the European Commission to set out the basis on which third countries could achieve mutual recognition for their GO schemes.
For more information, you can read more about the Commission’s proposal, the Council’s general approach or the Parliament’s adopted position.