COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS
Towards a European Strategic Energy Technology Plan
Conclusions
The world has entered a new energy era. The European Union should lead the way towards a paradigm shift in the way energy is produced, distributed and used.
Energy technology has a vital role to play in breaking once and for all the link between economic development and environmental degradation.
In combination with national activities, working at European level with an adequate combination of innovation and regulatory measures has produced substantial results.
However, the continuation of 'business as usual' is no longer an option. The current trends and their projections into the future demonstrate that we are simply not doing enough to respond to the energy challenge.
The Commission's view is that the increased budgets of the Seventh Framework Programmes (50%, from ?574M/year to ?886M/year), as well as the Intelligent Energy-Europe Programme (100%, from ?50M/year to ?100M/year), are a step in the right direction that Member States and industry should at least match.
The European Union must act jointly and urgently, agreeing and implementing a European Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET-Plan) in 2007 embracing the whole innovation process, from basic research to market take-up and facilitating research and development cooperation with international partners.
The SET-Plan must stem from a shared and inclusive European vision, involving all relevant actors. It must be ambitious in setting targets, but realistic and pragmatic regarding resources. The strategic element of the SET-Plan will be to identify those technologies for which it is essential that the European Union as a whole finds a more powerful way of mobilising resources in ambitious result-oriented actions to accelerate their pathway to the market.