European Parliament adopts Climate Change Package

Yesterday the European Parliament in Brussels set the course for Europe’s energy future. With the plenary vote on the climate change package yesterday morning the eleven months lasting negotiations and legislative work came to an end.The package confirms the EU binding target of 20 percentrenewable energy share by 2020 as well as 20 percent reduction on greenhouse gas emissions and a 20 percentimprovement on energy efficiency.Applied Materials welcomes the adoption of the Climate Change Package and especially the Directive on the promotion of the use of energy from renewable sources. Based on this Directive all Member States will now have to reach their own targets by 2020 by promoting renewable energies. This means a strong consolidation of national support schemes, more security of investments and a reduction of administrative procedures as well.Dr. Winfried Hoffmann, Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer of Applied Materials and President of the European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) spoke out contentedly on the reached agreement: “This package serves manifold: first the environment by less polluting thereby leading to a cleaner future, second the renewable markets by clearly defined medium term targets and third the renewable industry with many new high skilled workplaces.”With the adoption of the Climate Change Package photovoltaic technology gets the chance to be an important part of a cleaner and more sustainable European energy future.