Slow growth knocks the wind out of EU renewable energy targets

Slow growth knocks the wind out of EU renewable energy targets

For years, six onshore wind farms due to be built in the picturesque Italian regions of Puglia, Sardinia and Basilicata were stuck in bureaucratic wrangles. Italy’s ministry of culture argued that the sight of the wind farms was an eyesore. The ministry of ecological transition pushed back.

Gaining permission for wind parks in situations like this can take eight years. But, in March, Italy’s highest executive body, the council of ministers, stepped in to secure the approvals. Roberto Cingolani, Italy’s minister for ecological transition, said this highlighted the government’s “commitment to the development of energy from renewable sources throughout the country”.

All EU states are now realising this need for more renewable power, as they wake up to the dangers of relying on Russian gas. With Russia cutting supplies to the west, following opposition to its invasion of Ukraine, traditional thinking about a transition to cleaner fuel to combat climate change has been upended.

The process of moving from coal to gas to renewables has now become a question of increasing coal power to see citizens through winter, while targeting as high a capacity of renewable power as possible. Nuclear power is also back on the table for some countries — even for