Situational analysis of EU renewable energy legislation

This article applies a situational analysis tool to help answer the question of how EU renewable energy policy could be reshaped after 2020 to further enhance renewable energy deployment in the EU. The article identifies internal' strengths and weaknesses of EU renewable energy legislation and relevant external' and forward-looking threats and opportunities. The identification of these four elements is based factors, deemed relevant for the deployment of renewable energy and related cooperation between countries. It next seeks to identify relationships between internal weaknesses and strengths and external threats and opportunities, resulting in four sets of policy options.Policy relevanceIn October 2014, the EU Heads of State and Government agreed to increase the EU's greenhouse gas reduction target to -40% by 2030. They also agreed to an EU-level binding renewable energy target of 27% and 27% energy savings by the same date. Over the next years, the European Commission will present legislative and other initiatives to secure the implementation of these targets. This includes a review of the EU's renewable energy directive. This directive is currently one of the main community-level tools to further the planning and deployment of renewable energy in the member states. The situational analysis applied in this paper can therefore assist policy makers in their upcoming task to redesign of EU renewable energy and related policies.