Renewable energy co-ops launch manifesto for EU elections

REScoop is asking candidates and their political parties to guarantee new rights of citizens under the Clean Energy Package.

The European federation of renewable energy co-ops is asking candidates running for EU elections to take into account ten policy priorities for the sector.

REScoop is campaigning for a clean, carbon-free and democratic energy system that benefits all citizens. It believes that citizens should be at the centre of the EU’s energy union, which aims to ensure Europe’s energy supply is safe, viable and accessible to all.

According to REScoop, the EU’s energy legal framework already acknowledges and supports citizen energy communities as an essential component of the energy transition.

However, to achieve this transition, REScoop is asking candidates and their political parties to guarantee new rights of citizens under the Clean Energy Package. These rights would include producing, supplying and consuming renewable energy individually or together in a citizens energy community “without being subject to discriminatory or disproportionate treatment”.

The REScoop manifesto also suggests involving citizens and energy communities in the development and implementation of EU, national and local decarbonisation strategies, as well as ensuring that no one is left behind in the energy transition.

It believes the EU should take steps to transition away from fossil and nuclear energy, reduce its dependence on imports, and put an end to subsidies for fossil fuel and nuclear energy.

It advises candidates and their parties to promote collaboration and partnerships between local authorities, businesses and co-ops and reinforce recognition in EU policy of citizen energy communities as a different type of market actor.

The manifesto adds that EU institutions should ensure that renewable energy communities can participate in support schemes for renewable energy, and that SMEs and local authorities have fair access to finance to support research and innovation projects.

REScoop is encouraging all candidates to contact it to discuss how to work together to pursue this agenda.

By Anca Voinea

25 April 2019

THE NEWS