The EU's climate change and energy package is an example of EU global leadership on climate change. Agreement on the package, later this year, will underline that the EU is on a fast track to a low carbon economy. A key part of this is the target the EU has set itself of deriving 20 per cent. of its energy needs from renewables.
The climate and energy package, including the renewables element, has been the subject of several recent discussions in the NSID-EU Cabinet Committee, which my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary chairs, and at which the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform (BERR) is represented. BERR's recent consultation on the UK's renewable energy strategy sets out plans for driving up the use of renewable energy in the UK, to enable us to meet our share of the EU target. It will help shape the UK's renewable energy strategy, which will be published next spring, once the UK's share of the target is agreed.
The lead for the EU's 2020 package was previously shared between BERR and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Following recent structural changes, that lead now falls to the Department for Energy and Climate Change.