The analysis in this briefing indicates that the likely level of an EU 2030 renewables target, and the share it implies for the UK, will not create additional costs for electricity consumers as has been feared. It will also be below the level of renewables deployment needed for any cost effective route to meet economy wide carbon budgets.

In this briefing we explain why a UK renewables target is complementary to a power sector decarbonisation target and why there are significant investor, energy market and industrial policy benefits to be gained by setting an EU renewables target beyond 2020.