Introduction
An increased uptake of renewable energy sources (RES) will contribute to energy security, energy
affordability, Europe’s competitiveness, and the achievement of the 2040 EU climate target1. Whilst the share of renewables in the EU energy mix has doubled in 13 years reaching 25.2% renewables share in 2024, deployment rates need to accelerate substantially. Electricity is leading the way with a 47.5% renewables share. Heating and cooling (26.7%) and transport (11.2%) are lagging behind.
As announced in the Commission Work Programme 2026, the European Commission plans to keep Europe on the Commission Work Programme 2026 track to meet its climate goals and put forward an enabling framework for the decade ahead, securing Europe’s competitiveness and sustainability, including setting up the renewable energy framework and the phase-out of fossil fuel subsidies. The overarching objectives of the updated renewable energy framework for the decade ahead will be to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness and resilience by securing reliable and affordable homegrown energy for European citizens, businesses and industry, and to ensure that renewables contribute to the achievement of the 2040 EU climate target in a cost-effective and environmentally sustainable way. In this context, the strategic objectives would be to accelerate investments into homegrown renewables in a cost-effective manner; to strengthen the enabling framework to help integrate renewable power into the electricity sector; to improve energy system integration and facilitate electrification across demand sectors; to incentivise the uptake of renewable fuels and technologies that are not yet cost competitive, while preserving competitiveness of the economy, and to stimulate innovation; to improve the bioenergy framework; to ensure predictability and certainty of the energy transition pathway; and to streamline the overall framework and regulatory and administrative procedures.
The post-2030 renewables framework will be developed in coherence with the revision of the Governance Regulation (for which a call for evidence and public consultation was open until 19 March 2026), the 2040 a call for evidence and public consultation Climate Law, the energy efficiency framework, the updated EU Emissions Trading System, as well as other legislation and initiatives with impacts on renewables. It will succeed the existing Renewable Energy Directive (RED), as well as build on the Clean Industrial Deal, the Affordable Energy Action Plan, the European Grids Package, the Strategic Roadmap on Digitalisation and AI in the Energy Sector, the Electrification Action Plan and the Heating and Cooling Strategy.
In this context, the Commission is launching a public consultation to gather views from all interested parties, focusing on:
- General questions
- Enabling framework
- Integration of renewables into the electricity system
- Energy system integration across energy carriers, infrastructure and consumption sectors
- Innovative and emerging technologies and forms of renewable energy deployment
- Bioenergy sustainability
- Union renewable energy financing mechanism
The results of this consultation will feed into the preparation of the updated renewable energy framework.
You can save your replies as a draft and finish them later. You can choose to only answer the sections and specific questions which are relevant to you.
- On 2 July 2025, the European Commission proposed an amendment to the European Climate Law to set an intermediate EU target for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 90% by 2040 compared to 1990 levels. In December 2025, the co-legislators reached a provisional agreement on the amendment supporting a 90% emission reduction target, allowing for international credits to contribute to this target with up to 5% ↩︎