Britain will stage a u-turn by supporting European proposals for binding targets on renewable energy generation, the Financial Times reported on Thursday. Citing a government spokesman, the business daily said that Prime Minister Tony Blair will back measures that require member states to generate 20 percent of their energy from renewable sources by 2020.
"We will … support the proposal for a binding EU-wide 20 percent target for renewables," the government spokesman told the FT.
He also said that the 2020 target would have to be approached in a "realistic way", with some member states having to do more than others to meet the overall objective.
The Guardian had reported last month that Britain was opposing the measures, arguing that EU member states need to be able to set their own targets, citing a leaked position paper sent by Britain to the European council on energy.
"The UK fully agrees that increasing the use of renewables … is important to meet climate and energy security objectives, but we are not convinced that a mandatory renewables target is the best way of achieving this," the British document, which was originally leaked to charity Friends of the Earth, read.
According to the FT, about five percent of electricity generated in Britain is currently from renewable sources, while Blair has pledged that will rise to 10 percent by the end of the decade.
Source: Agence France-Presse
