Technical Analysis and Comparison of Underlying Scenarios for the Forthcoming European Commission White Paper on a 2030 Framework for Climate and Energy Policies

The European Commission is expected to present its own vision for the further development of the EU's energy and climate policy framework in its White Paper "For a 2030 climate and energy policy framework" on 22 January 2014. At this decisive point in the political debate the Wuppertal Institute presents a brief working paper that analyses some of the analytical work - particularly the underlying energy and GHG emission scenarios - behind the Commission's proposals to be presented in the forthcoming White Paper. The authors point out, that the newly developed long-term EU scenarios do not reflect the full range of visions found within society for a future decarbonised European energy system. This fact, together with the scenario's focus on developments until the year 2030 might lead to wrong mid-term decisions in regard to technology and infrastructure choices. In addition, the Wuppertal Institute working paper draws attention to various interesting findings of the scenarios themselves.